The Love Of Family
by determined-or-something
Summary: 20 years post-Barden, Beca and Chloe Mitchell-Beale are settled down, married with three kids. This is the story about Bechole love for each other and their children.
1. Meet The Mitchell-Beale Family

**The Love Of Family**

 **A/N:** Hey guys, I'm new to writing fanfiction and I just love Bechole together thought I'd write an AU on them. In this story they are married with three teenage kids (two girls and a boy). Beca is a music producer in LA and Chloe is a music teacher at the high school where the kids go. The kids are Taylor (17, high school senior), Micah (16, high school junior), and Dani (14, high school freshman).

This is family heavy. A lot of scenes with kids with Chloe and/or Beca.

The other Bellas will make an appearance.

 **Rated M** because there will be some lady loving throughout the story. I'll indicate at the beginning of the chapter if I choose to put some in.

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pitch Perfect; just the OC's and other stuff you don't recognize.**

* * *

 **Chapter One: Meet the Mitchell-Beale Family**

Beca Mitchell-Beale was one of those kinds of people where to the world, she's a rough and tough badass with a go-getter kind of personality, but to her wife, two daughters, and son, she was the mushiest person on the planet.

She met her wife, Chloe in college, after an awkward encounter in a shower stall in the dorms at Barden, she joined the acapella group, mainly because something about the red head made her want to be around her.

They got together Beca's sophomore year and Chloe's first year as a super senior and after the both graduated, Beca got down on one knee and proposed to her love in front of all of the Bellas. Six months later, they were happily married and starting their lives in LA.

Three years into their marriage, Chloe brought up the possibility of expanding their family of two. Beca had said that the idea of getting pregnant terrified her and they agreed and a year later Chloe gave birth to their baby girl, Taylor Lee Mitchell-Beale.

Three years later, Beca decided that she wanted to give birth, so nine months later, she gave birth to Danielle Elise Mitchell-Beale. And just a year and a half before this story, Chloe fell in love with a troubled student in one of her freshman music classes, to find out that, he was a foster kid who was being beaten around at home and managed to convince her hesitant wife that the boy needed a safe home. And they adopted him six months before this story takes place.

Now their kids were in their teens making decisions, playing sports, and living a happy life.

Or that's what they thought.

* * *

One Saturday morning, Beca woke up with Chloe in her arms, she kissed her wife's shoulder and whispered, "Good morning beautiful."

Chloe turned over to give her wife a good morning kiss, "Good morning baby." She said before kissing Beca again. "You got in late last night."

"Yeah, was in the studio all night. Sorry." Beca said.

"It's fine," Chloe said, pushing her wife's hair out of her face.

"What did I miss while I was gone?" Beca asked.

"Taylor is refusing to open college letters, Micah is withdrawn for some reason, won't even let me cuddle with him, and Dani is nursing her first broken heart." Chloe said placing her head on Beca's chest.

"Isaiah broke my princess' heart?" Beca asked to clarify.

"Yeah," Chloe said distantly, her thoughts on their middle child being distant.

"I'll cuddle with her today." Beca said. "And what letters came in for Taylor?"

"All of them," Chloe said. "So Barden, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, and Columbia."

"All East Coast schools, why does she have to grow up?" Beca asked.

"We blinked, now she's on her way to find the cure of cancer." Chloe said.

"And our boy?" Beca said knowing that was what is plaguing her wife's mind.

"He only was out of his room for dinner last night, then he spent his time doing homework, and even was doing a mix or two when he was done before playing video games." Chloe said.

"Well he did go through a lot before finding us." Beca reminded her wife.

"I know," Chloe said curling into her wife. "Do you think he feels safe here?"

"Well you force him to cuddle with you every morning before school and every night. I think he does." Beca said.

"Thank you for letting us save him." Chloe said.

"I always wanted a son." Beca said.

"I love you." Chloe said.

"I love you too." Beca said back.

* * *

"Hey sweetheart," Beca said knocking on her oldest daughter's door frame.

"Hey Mama," Taylor said writing her paper for school.

Beca came in and started rubbing the girl's shoulders, "How are you?"

"Good," the girl answered. "How was the session last night?"

"It was good," Beca said continuing to rub her daughter's shoulders, looking around her desk to see all of the envelopes from the colleges on her desk. "So Mom told me the letters came in, but you aren't opening them?"

"Mama please don't," Taylor said. "I'm not ready for rejection."

"You'll never know until you open them," Beca said continuing to rub her daughter's shoulders. "And no matter what happens Mom and I will be here for you."

Taylor took a deep breath and said, "Could - could you maybe give me a moment?"

"Of course, I need to go help your sister mend that broken heart of hers." Beca said, stopping her massage. "You know where to find me."

As Beca was walking out of the room, she heard, "Mama?"

"Yes baby?" She said.

"I love you."

"I love you too." Beca walked out of the room and ran into Micah, "Hey bubba."

"Hey Be- Mama." He said, holding a can of Sprite.

He had just started calling the couple 'Mama' and 'Mom' and was trying to get himself to call them that without having to correct himself.

"You okay?" Beca asked. "Mom said you've been distant lately."

"I'm fine." He said. "Really."

Beca stood on her tip toes to kiss his temple, "Well we're here if you need anything." She said.

"I know, I, uh, my friend Tyler is waiting on XboxLive, I should get back to him?" He said.

"Of course honey," Beca said. "I was on my way to see Dani anyway."

"If you need help holding Isaiah down to kick his ass, let me know." He said.

"Will do bubba." Beca said with a small smile.

"Oh another thing," he said before going into his room.

"What's up?" Beca asked.

"Tyler wants to know if it's okay to go to the Dodger game with us on the extra ticket. You can say no, I was just curious since none of the other girls want to go with us."

"Of course he can," Beca said. "How's his new foster home?"

Micah shrugged, "Better than his last I guess." He said as he entered his room.

Beca then turned around and walked into Dani's room, "Hey princess." She said softly.

"Hi Mama." She said curled in bed.

"Do you plan on getting up today?" Beca asked sitting next to the girl running her hand through the girl's hair.

"Do I have to? I already did my homework in study hall yesterday." Dani said.

"Well, can I lay with you?" Beca asked. "I could use some Dani snuggles."

"Okay." The girl said making room for her mother on the bed.

Beca got behind her daughter and wrapped her arms around her kissing the top of her head as the girl rested it on her mother's chest, "Do you wanna talk about it?" Beca asked.

"Not really." Dani said. "I just want mama snuggles."

"Okay, we'll do that then." She said being quiet running her hand down the girl's back.

* * *

Chloe wandered into Micah's room with laundry and saw him sitting in his game chair, playing his game, "Go, go, go! Behind you!" He said into the microphone.

"What are you playing?" Chloe asked. "And who are you playing it with?"

"Call of Duty with Tyler." He answered his mom. "Go, go." He said into the microphone and quickly looked over his shoulder. "Oh, I could've done my own laundry, Mom."

"Nonsense. I do your mama's and sisters', of course I'll do yours." She said.

"Okay dude, I'll see you tomorrow." He said into the mic. "I'll text you the info for the game tomorrow. Okay. Later dude." He then turned off the console and turned around to help his mom fold his clothes. "At least let me help you fold."

"Okay," she said with a smile. "How's Tyler?"

"Good," he answered. "He's going to the Dodger game with me and Mama."

Chloe's eyes lit up as she smiled, "Oh, that's great honey." She said.

"Mhm," he nodded.

They folded his clothes in silence for a few minutes before Chloe said, "You've been really withdrawn lately, is everything okay?"

"I'm adopted now, of course I'm okay." He responded.

"Just because you're adopted doesn't be you _have_ to be okay." Chloe said.

He shrugged, "I'm loved, fed well, and I'm not scared of Mama anymore. What could be the problem now?" He said.

In the midst of their conversation they heard a loud thump coming from Taylor's room, almost like a fist went through a wall.

Both Chloe and Beca were in the hallway in an instant, "What's going on?" Beca called out.

"Barden, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, _and_ Columbia rejected me." The high school senior let out. "I don't even _want_ to look at Harvard's letter. I can't handle anymore rejection."

"Barden rejected you? How? Like that's our Ala Mater." Beca said receiving a glare from her wife, the look saying, "not now."

Taylor began to shake and then turned around and slammed the door behind her. Chloe and Beca looked over their shoulders to see the child they were previously with and they both said at the same time, "Go ahead."

Chloe softly knocked on the door, "Baby girl?" She said. "Can we come in?" No response.

Beca decided to just open the door and when the couple walked in they saw her face first in the pillow. Chloe stopped her wife from going any further in case she said or did anything stupid.

The red head sat on the edge of the bed and started rubbing the girl's back, "Baby girl," she murmured, "can you look at me? Can you look at Mommy?" Taylor turned over and looked in her mother's eyes, "Hi baby girl."

"Where's Mama?" She asked.

"Right here," Beca said not moving from her spot not wanting to cause the girl any more grief.

"Do you want us to be here when you open the letter from Harvard?" Chloe asked.

Taylor nodded as she sat up and went to her desk to grab it, Beca moved to the bed making room for the girl between them, Taylor sat down between her moms who both wrapped their arms around her, "Whatever is in that envelope, we still love you more than you'll ever know, more than we'll understand." Beca said.

Taylor nodded and slowly opened the envelope and read it to herself before reading it out loud, "Dear Miss Mitchell-Beale, I am please to inform you that you've been accepted to Harvard University..." A smile came on her face as it sunk in, "I'm going to Harvard."

Both the moms scooped their daughter up and kissed her cheek, "Congratulations baby girl." They said.

The three of them stayed like that for awhile.

* * *

"What smells good in here?" Micah came into the kitchen asking.

"It's takeout." Beca said to the boy. "Mom didn't feel like cooking tonight."

"Cool, I love Chinese food anyway." The boy said. "It's all of your guys' comfort food right?" Four sets of eyes looked confused at the boy, "What? When I got here I started people watching you. It's only awkward if you make it awkward."

"You people watched us?" Taylor asked.

"I did it in every other foster home I was placed in." He said. "It was when I realized whether or not I was safe."

Everybody froze, it wasn't often that Micah opened up about his past, and when he did, the four females always stopped and listened.

Chloe made her way to him, he often refers to the woman as his savior because she was the one who made the call to CPS and got him out of the abusive home he was in.

Chloe wrapped him up in a hug and kissed his cheek, another thing he often thought is how much Chloe reminded him of his birth mom when she was sober and wasn't high on some kind of drug or alcohol.

"Anyway, _food._ " He emphasized.

"Yes," Beca said. " _Food._ "

"Y'know Mama," Taylor said, "sometimes I mistake you for a teenage boy."

"Thanks baby girl." The music producer said. "I appreciate that."

The five of them sat at the dinner table passing around plate, utensils, food, and once they finished that, Micah said, "So Taylor, Harvard?"

Taylor's face lit up, "Yeah, Harvard." The high school senior said.

"We've been saving up since she's been able to say Harvard," Beca told Micah.

"That's cool," he said behind his hand as food was in his mouth.

"Kind of glad you're not going to Barden though," Chloe said.

"Why? You don't want me to become a Bella?" Taylor said jokingly making Beca spit out the beer she was drinking with dinner.

"You okay?" Micah asked as he was sitting next to her.

"Yeah, yeah." She said.

"Are you laughing at how we met?" Chloe asked with a tilted head.

"No of course not baby." Beca said. "I just was trying to imagine our daughter as a Bella and when I did it made me laugh. Our tomboy daughter, who currently plays rugby, as a Bella? Do you remember being a Bella?"

"Alright, this is going to sound really stupid, but what is a Bella?" Micah asked.

"It's an acapella group at Barden University." Beca answered. "It's where Mom and I met."

"Oh acapella groups, those are like things? Like an instrument-less Glee club?" Micah asked.

"Yes," the couple said.

"That's cool, I guess." He said.

"What about you?" Taylor asked her brother. "Do you have plans after high school?"

"Yeah," Chloe said, "You're a junior. It's time to start thinking about that, huh?"

"Oh, uh yeah, about that." He said getting flustered.

"Please don't say, 'I'm not cut out for college' because that's a load of bull." Beca said.

"No, it's not that, it's just," he took a deep breath, "I've been on track to go into the military after graduation. That's always been my dream."

Beca looked to Chloe, she knew her music teacher of a wife has grown pretty attached to the boy she brought into their home. And she'll be honest to admit when the boy came to them broken, bruised, and confused, she was hesitant to allow him into her home and heart.

"That's wonderful, baby boy." Chloe said after a few minutes. "What branch?"

"Army, in honor of my dad." He said.

That's another thing he didn't walk about. He didn't talk about his birth family.

"I think that's honorable," Beca said. "Don't you honey?" She added looking at her wife.

"Very honorable." She said.

Silence fell over the family and Micah looked up from his food to see Chloe pushing food around her plate, "Mom." He said softly. "I'm not Taylor, I still have another year before graduation."

Beca looked up at her wife who was sitting directly across from her, "Baby," the music producer said to the music teacher softly.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." She said. "Sorry, I just remember that scared little freshman who always used to help me out after school because unbeknownst to me he was scared to go home to his drunk, abusive foster parents."

"And you and Mama and Taylor and Dani saved me from that," he said. "And this family continues to save me every single day." He was sitting next to Chloe and wrapped his arm around her, "I love you Mom and I've been planning this long before I landed in my forever home with my forever family." He kissed her cheek, "I'm sorry for just dropping it on you."

"It's fine," she said kissing his cheek. "It just took me by surprise, that's all. I need some time to process it."

"Of course," he said. "Take all the time you need."

Silence then fell over the family of five again until Beca put her arm around Dani, "You're really quiet. You okay princess?" The mother asked her daughter before placing a kiss to her cheek.

"I'm fine." She said. "Fine."

Micah looked at his younger sister, the two of them had a special kind of relationship, when he came into the home, Dani took a liking to the boy before Beca and Taylor did. So when she was hurting he definitely had the big brother thing nailed to a science.

"What do you say we watch a movie as a family after dinner?" Micah suggested. "That way we can all be together?" His eyes never left his little sister as he said it.

"Yes," the moms immediately said. "That sounds like a good idea, son." Beca said.

* * *

After the movie and family snuggle session on the couch, Beca and Chloe found themselves alone in their bedroom for the first time since that morning. They went through their nightly rituals and then cuddled in bed. Chloe's head was on Beca's chest.

"What a day," Beca said running her fingers through red hair.

"Yeah." Chloe said sounding distant.

Beca kissed her wife's forehead and asked, "Whatcha thinking about beautiful?"

"Harvard, the Army, and how stupid teenage boys are." Chloe said before burying her face into her wife's chest.

"So the kids," Beca said.

"Yeah," she said. "Sorry, I know this is our time."

"It's fine beautiful." Beca said. "I love you Chlo."

"I love you too, Bec." Chloe said looking up to kiss her wife.

"So I was thinking, maybe next weekend us and the kids could get away for the weekend?" Beca said.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. Where?" Chloe said.

"I was thinking to the beach house in Orange County?" Beca said. "That way all we have to pay for is food and you know the kids' happy place is the beach. We could surf as a family."

"I don't surf," Chloe said.

"We could maybe teach you how?" Beca asked.

"Okay," she said. "A family weekend?"

"A family weekend." Beca agreed. "I think the kids could benefit from it."

"Me too." Chloe said kissing Beca again, initiating a small make out session.

* * *

 **End of the Chapter A/N:** Just a little introduction. A lot more fluff, a little my angst, and more coming your way!


	2. A Mama's Love For Her Son

**A/N:** Back at it! Thank you for all the support!

Also, we're getting a little OC heavy in this chapter. But, do not fear, Bechole is still heavily present!

The angst just got turned up three notches.

 _Big chunks of italics are flashbacks!_

* * *

 **Chapter Two: A Mama's Love For Her Son**

Micah closed his door after looking to see if anybody in his family was going to hear him before he took the phone call. "Hey Mom." He said into the phone.

 _"Hi my little prince," his birth mother, Sarah, said back to him._

"What's the emergency?" He asked.

 _"Whatever do you mean?" She asked._

"I gave you my number for emergencies only. If Beca and Chloe knew I was talking to you right now, they'd flip." He said.

 _"I just miss you my son." She said._

"I'm not your son anymore," he answered flatly.

 _"You'll always be my son." She answered. "I can't believe you don't consider me your mother."_

"When I was five, you thought that leaving me alone by myself while getting drugs was a good idea." He whispered-yelled.

 _"You live in the past Micah Benjamin," she said. "You know I've changed."_

"Have you?" He said. "Because if you really have, you'd be going through my _moms_ right now instead of me directly."

 _"I want to see you," she said._

"Why?" He asked. "What could you possibly want from me?"

 _"Just your time." She said. "No strings attached."_

"I don't believe you." He said.

 _"What are you doing this weekend?" She asked._

"Going out of town with my _family._ " He emphasized on the last word.

 _"What about Monday after school?" She asked._

"I'm free." He said unwillingly.

 _"Meet me at our spot please?" She begged._

He took a deep breath, "Fine, but no more after this okay? And I'm not giving you any money." He said.

 _"Fine." She said. "I just want to see you anyway."_

"Okay, Monday, our spot, 4 o'clock." He said with finality in his tone.

 _"Sounds good little prince." She said before they said their goodbyes._

Little did Micah know Taylor was listening into the conversation via the joint bathroom the brings the three kids' room together and she was not happy about what she heard.

* * *

"So when are we leaving?" Taylor asked the next morning.

"When Mama gets home from work," Chloe said.

"So around midnight?" Micah jokingly took a stab at the music producer's weird hours.

"Hey," Beca said, "in case you forgot, I'm co-owner of the company, so I can pass some of the project off to another producer if I wanted to."

Beca and Emily started the company ten years ago after both having a little experience in the industry and Emily moved out to LA from where she started in New York.

"She's the real breadwinner of this house," Chloe said coming behind Beca and kissing her cheek wrapping her arms around the woman.

"We both are baby," Beca said not wanting her wife to think that her paycheck didn't mean anything.

"Of course, you're right." Chloe said as her wife sank back into her embrace.

"It was a joke, Mama." Micah said. "I know you're in the middle of cutting a record right now."

Beca left her wife's embrace to embrace their son, "You're tense," she mentioned, "everything okay up there?" She asked pointing to his head.

"I'm just stressed because of midterms, that's all." He said. "A weekend away with the family is exactly what I need."

"Maybe you can convince Mom to give you a backrub," Beca said. "They're the best."

"I'd be happy to," Chloe said.

"Thanks Mom," he said as Beca still had him in her arms. Micah won't admit it, but this was his favorite position to be in. He knew that Beca wasn't too fond of him when he first came and he also knew that it was protectiveness for her two girls that they already had. But, through the nightmares, through the insecurity of them giving up on him, Beca was the forefront. Sure, Chloe was there, she was the physical comforter of the family, but Beca was always there with a shoulder squeeze, soft reassurances that everything will be alright.

"So let's get breakfast done, shall we?" Chloe said.

"Food," both Micah and Beca declared as they left the embrace.

Chloe and Taylor shook their heads, as the two acted like they weren't just having a mother-son moment.

"I'm not really hungry," Dani said.

"You've been saying that all week," Chloe said. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the high school freshman said, "I'm just not really hungry."

"Eat a little of what your mom made, please?" Beca requested.

"Okay." Dani said obeying her mama's request.

The family sat down for breakfast and it was quieter than usual, both Chloe and Micah were morning people, while the three night owls were usually half asleep at breakfast, but it was quieter than usual.

"So you have midterms next week?" Taylor asked. The two sisters went to a different school than he did. He stayed there because he was thriving and he just commuted to school with Chloe.

He nodded, "All of them, in a two day period."

Chloe rubbed his shoulder, "Mama's right. You do seem tense." She said.

"I'm just stressed." He said.

"It's more than about midterms though, right?" Taylor said.

"What - what do you mean?" Micah said.

"C'mon bro," Taylor said, "your room, my room, and Dani's room is separated by a bathroom. I heard a particular phone call last night."

Micah's eyes went wide, "You were eavesdropping on my private conversation last night?" He asked, his jaw tightening.

"I did." She said. "And I'll tell Moms what I heard if you don't."

"What's going on?" Beca asked.

"Nothing," Micah muttered.

Chloe put her arm around the boy, "Micah honey?" She said her blue eyes begging him what's going on.

"Just tell them," Taylor said. "It's better that they find out from you."

"Micah," Beca said softly yet sternly.

He took a deep breath and took a sip of the coffee that was in front of him, "I've been in contact with my birth mom." He said.

"What?" Beca and Chloe said.

"I gave her my number for emergencies. I'm the only person left in the family that doesn't hate her guts." He said.

"Wh-why would you do that?" Beca asked, in a voice that asked the real question, 'are we not enough?'

"Because I still love Sarah, without her, I wouldn't be here." He said. "And she's my birth mom."

 _"This is a great way to start out family weekend," Chloe thought giving her wife a sympathetic look._

* * *

That evening, things were tense at the Mitchell-Beale beach house. Like really tense.

The moms made dinner in silence instead of harmonizing together. The kids did their weekend homework in the bedrooms at the beach house. Nothing was the same.

Chloe and Micah avoided each other at school, which wasn't normal. They of course saw each other in his music class, but even then they didn't make eye contact. In the car on the way to school, on the way home, and even on the way to the beach house, he put his Beats headphones on and listen to a mix he had created a few nights before.

Chloe did come behind Beca in the kitchen and wrapped her arms around the music producer who had taken the news really hard. When the music teacher rested her chin on her wife's shoulder, the music producer asked whispering, "Are we enough for him?"

"Honey," Chloe said.

"What if we aren't enough for him? Was I too harsh when he first came to live with us?" Beca asked.

Chloe turned her wife around, "Your insecurities are getting in the way babe." She said softly.

"Why is she still in the picture?" Beca asked burying her face into her wife's shoulder.

"I don't know babe." She said. "I wish I had an answer for you."

"You're avoiding him too." Beca said.

"I'm just - _hurt, angry, confused._ " Chloe said. "And I don't want to take it out on him."

"Yeah," Beca said. "What are supposed to do about dinner tonight? We can't ignore him."

"We do the usual, ask how his day was, and how he's doing." Chloe said.

"And avoid the elephant that's going to be in the room?" Beca asked as Chloe placed a gentle kiss to the music producer's neck.

"I guess." Chloe said.

"And if he brings it up?" Beca asked.

"Then we calmly discuss it." Chloe said.

"I don't do calm very well." Beca said.

"I know babe," the red head said kissing her temple. "Believe me, I know."

* * *

Dinner was a quiet affair.

Minus Beca and Chloe telling Dani she needed more food on her plate, it was a quiet dinner.

Finally Micah couldn't take it anymore, "So, you two are mad?" He asked his mothers. "At me?" He clarified.

"We're not mad honey," Chloe said.

"So the silent treatment that I've gotten all day?" He asked.

Beca gripped her fork, not looking up from her food, and began to shake, Chloe who was sitting next to her in case of this happening, started to soothingly rub and scratch her back.

"We aren't mad," Chloe said.

"Then why does it look like Mama is going to break that fork?" He asked wide-eyed.

Chloe looked over to her wife, "Baby," she whispered directly into her ear, "relax."

Beca puts her fork down and looks directly into her son's eyes and asks, "Are we not enough for you?"

"Wh-what?" He asked surprised by the question.

"Why are you in contact with Sarah?" She asked.

"She's my birth mo-" he tried.

"Not the answer I'm looking for," Beca snapped.

"Honey," Chloe said. Snapping at the one kid who probably doesn't even feel like family was never a good sign.

"What am I supposed to say?" Micah said. "I gave her my number for _emergencies._ "

"What's the emergency this time?" Beca bit back. "Needs more money for drugs?"

"I told her that I wasn't giving her money." Micah said.

"Yeah and then she's going to give you a sob story about how she just needs a couple bucks to pay bills and give you those puppy dog eyes that you and I fall for when it comes to anybody that means anything to us." Beca argued.

"I'm not that shallow," he argued. "I'm sorry for wanting to help the woman that gave me life."

"She needs _professional_ help." Beca said. "And I don't want you dragged into her _fucked_ up life."

Chloe continued to scratch Beca's back, she agreed with what her wife was saying, but the hurt look on their son's face was what broke her the most.

"I can choose how much I'm in her life without help." He bit back. "At least she makes an attempt to be there."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Beca asked with her eyebrows shooting up.

"You bailed on me and Tyler Sunday on the Dodger game." He said.

"I explained the situation." Beca defended. "And you still went."

"Has it ever occurred to you that I was looking forward to going to the game with you?" Micah said. "Like I know you didn't want me at first, but at least make an effort."

The table fell silent and frozen, Micah the only one shaking in anger. All remembering that first night he came into the Mitchell-Beale home.

 _Beca knew that a boy was going to be sitting at her kitchen table, but she didn't expect it to look anything like what Micah Forester looked like. He was beaten up, looked scared, and obvious had huge walls up._

 _"Hi honey," Beca said coming in to kiss her wife._

 _"Hi baby." Chloe said kissing her back, pulling back to stare into her lover's eyes for a moment until reality sunk in. "Beca baby, this is Micah. Micah sweetie, this is my wife Beca."_

 _"It's nice to meet you ma'am." Micah said sticking his hand out to shake his foster mother's hand._

 _Beca shook his hand and nodded her head before turning to her two daughters, "Hi loves." Beca said kissing their foreheads._

 _"We were waiting for you for dinner." Chloe said._

 _"Oh you didn't have to." Beca said. "But thank you beautiful."_

 _Chloe dished up plates and put it in front of each person when she placed food in front of Micah he said, "Thank you, Mrs. Mitchell-Beale."_

 _"You're welcome sweetheart," Chloe said squeezing his shoulder. "And off campus you can call me Chloe."_

 _"Okay, Chloe," he said trying the name out on his tongue._

 _Beca sat directly across from the boy and stared at him skeptically, he pushed his food around his plate, she started a conversation with her family, "So how was everybody's day?" She asked._

 _"Good." The three other females said. Micah got a sense that she wasn't talking to him, so he kept his head down._

 _"You have a rugby game_ _tomorrow right, Tay?" Beca asked._

 _The girl nodded, "Yup, at 5, can you make it?" Taylor asked._

 _"I'll make sure I will." Beca said. "How about you princess?" She said to Dani. "Soccer game on Saturday?"_

 _"Yeah! They're letting me start too!" She said excitedly._

 _"Really? That's wonderful." Beca said. "How was your day beautiful?" She asked grabbing Chloe's hand from across the table._

 _"Good," she said smiling at her wife then Chloe made a motion with her head for her wife to talk to Micah because she knew in a small way the music producer was ignoring the boy._

 _Beca cleared her throat, "So uhm, Micah, do you play any sports?" The music producer asked._

 _Micah looked up from his plate and answered, "Football in the fall. Baseball in the spring."_

 _"Do you have any games coming up for baseball?" Beca asked knowing that it was the end of March._

 _"Uh yeah," he scratched the back of his neck nervously, "tomorrow at 5."_

 _"Oh," the couple said._

 _"Don't worry about it, I'm used to not having any support in the stands." He said._

 _"I can be there if you want," Chloe said._

 _"What about Taylor?" The boy asked softly. Then he looked at her, "That's your name right? I'm bad with names."_

 _"Yeah, that's my name, and it's fine." The high school junior said. "Mom says you're the captain of the jv team, you should have some support."_

 _"Are you sure?" He asked the girl. "She's your mom first."_

 _"I'm positive." Taylor said._

 _Beca watched as the two shared a small smile and while she kept her guards up for awhile, she was glad that she and her wife could save this boy from the worst._

"It's not that I didn't want you at first," Beca said softly, "it was - I was trying to protect myself and my family from getting hurt. I was trying to prevent this."

"I'm _adopted_ now." He said firmly. "I'm not running back to her."

"Then why aren't we enough?" Beca yelled standing up. "Why do you need Sarah? Huh?"

"I don't need her, _she_ needs _me!_ " He yelled back, standing up himself.

"She's just going to use you, Micah!" Beca yelled back.

"Oh, like you used me?" He countered.

"What are you talking about?" Beca asked.

"Let's go back to the fact that you didn't even want me at first." Micah said. "Why'd you agree to take me in because it made your wife happy and you're so whipped that you couldn't say no to her?"

"You know that's not true," Beca said.

"Oh, do I?" He asked.

"We wouldn't have adopted you if I was just doing it to please my wife." Beca said.

"Or did you?" Micah asked.

"Of course not," Beca said. "I've grown to love you like my own."

"Then could you act like it," he said throwing his hand out. "Could you maybe stop acting like I'm going to judge you for loving me? For holding me? You ask me if you aren't enough, sometimes - sometimes you're not. Sometimes you show me how much you love me, but Mom is the only one who physically shows me that she loves me. And I'm tired of being place in the backseat. I - I need you too sometimes."

Upon that confession he grabbed the bottle of root beer that he was drinking and all, but ran out the door to the private beach, leaving his mothers and sisters in a state of shock.

* * *

After dinner, Beca went up to the master bedroom and went into the bathroom and sat on the edge of the tub. She had taken a couple of shots before coming up. Her mind reeling, did Micah really think that she only allowed him into the home because it would make Chloe happy and overall her happy? Did he really think that she didn't love him?

She was buzzed and in her thoughts when she heard a small knock on the door, "Come in," she said. When the door opened, it revealed her two daughters standing there, "C'mere loves."

The girls went to their mama and curled into her, they knew that she just needed to hold somebody and with Chloe outside trying to win back Micah's heart to being apart of the family.

"Where's Mom?" The music producer asked.

"Outside with Micah." Taylor answered.

"Oh," Beca said as Dani put her head on her mother's shoulder. "What's up then?"

"We know after stuff like that you normally hold Mom," Dani said softly.

"So we thought we'd let you hold the both of us." Taylor added.

"Thanks loves," Beca said softly, kissing both of their temples.

"Is it true?" Dani asked. "Did you not want him at first?"

Beca took a deep breath, remembering that night in the bedroom. The only argument she's had with Chloe that she wish she could take back.

 _"Why would you bring a boy into our home without consulting me first?" Beca asked folding laundry._

 _"Uhh, we did talk about it, for MONTHS, this didn't just happen Beca." Chloe said._

 _"He's one of your students babe," Beca said. "How does your boss feel about it?"_

 _"Michele is fine with it," Chloe said. "She's the one who suggested it since he was so comfortable with me and that you're not a man."_

 _"It just feels weird." Beca said. "That's all."_

 _"I know we said our family was complete with our girls, but I feel like I could really help Micah." Chloe said. "More so than I already do and I feel like you could too."_

 _"What happens when this happens again though Chlo?" Beca asked. "Are we going to take in each of your students who've been dealt a rough hand?"_

 _"No, of course not." Chloe said a little hurt. "You know that most of the kids who come through my classes have been dealt a rough hand."_

 _Beca stopped what she was doing because she heard the tone in her wife's voice, "I'm sorry," she then said._

 _Chloe took a deep breath and said, "Micah's been dealt a really rough hand and I'm sorry that I wanted to save him. Could - could you maybe give him a chance? For me?"_

 _Beca took her wife into her arms and said, "Of course I will my love." The music producer kissed the music teacher softly. "I love you."_

 _"I love you too." Chloe mumbled into her wife's chest._

"I know how the foster system works," Beca started running fingers through Dani's hair. "I know we could've lost him in two seconds if things didn't work out. I didn't want to get attached."

Beca kissed Dani's head when Taylor asked, "But, now, you do love him, right?"

"More than I'll ever understand, more than he'll ever know." Beca answered immediately.

"Then why does he think you don't love him?" Dani asked.

"I've been bailing on him a lot lately." The music producer said.

"Why?" Dani asked.

"You girls have needed a little bit of my attention lately." The mother said honestly.

"Oh," both the daughters said.

"Don't feel bad loves," Beca said. "It's not your fault."

"Maybe this weekend you two should spend a lot of time together," Dani suggested.

"Yeah, just you two." Taylor agreed. "Like surf sessions, runs along the beach. Something that makes you two doing something together."

"You two really are your mom's children." Beca said kissing them both. "I love you both."

"We love you too, Mama." The girls said at the same time.

* * *

Chloe knew her son better than he knew himself sometimes, but this sudden, _'do you really love me mama?'_ thing caught her by surprise.

She wasn't surprised to find him sipping his bottle of root beer on a rock looking out at the ocean.

 _"What's your happy place?" Chloe asked him when she was rubbing his shoulders as he was studying for his first round of finals in the Mitchell-Beale household._

 _"The beach." He said. "The smell and sound of the ocean with wind blowing in my face, relaxes me._

 _"We'll have to go there after finals, we have a beach house in Orange County." Chloe said. "With a private beach and everything."_

 _"Okay!" He said._

 _"The beach is my happy place too." Chloe said._

 _"Really?" He asked._

 _"Yeah, really."_

Chloe sat beside him, she had brought a glass of wine out for her for this talk, she needed to feel a little numb.

"You remember how I was talking in class the other day about how I inspire Mama to produce things that she's never thought of before?" Chloe asked, she saw him nod out of the corner of her eye. "And how sometimes the little things inspire you to be extraordinary?" He nodded again. "You inspire your mama to do something extraordinary. So do I and so do you sisters." She looked from the ocean to her son to see him wiping a tear from his eyes. "She loves you. Not because saving your made me happy. Not because of me, but because of _you._ I know it's hard to believe sometimes. Believe me, I've been with her for over twenty years. I know how hard it can be. But, I do know she loves you so much."

"I know what it's like to not be loved." He let out after several minutes. "My mom chose drugs over me every single day after my dad died. Foster parents chose alcohol over me. I know what it's like to not be loved and sometimes that's how Mama makes me feel." He began to cry.

Chloe took the slightly-bigger-than-her teenager into her arms and onto her lap. She rocked him back and forth in order to sooth him.

"She loves you," Chloe said. "She loves you a lot more than she'll ever be able to understand, more than you'll ever know."

The mother-son pair sat there for awhile listening to the sound of the ocean finding comfort in the ocean and each other.

* * *

The next morning, Chloe found her wife and son cuddled on the balcony outside the couple's room each of the two sitting their with coffee watching the sunrise. Chloe watched the two from the bed. It warmed her heart to see her son curled into her wife. She tried not to listen to their conversation, but she was curious.

"I love you more than I'll ever understand, more than you'll ever know." Beca said.

"That's what Mom said." He said. "I love you too."

"I'm sorry that I hurt you in any way." The music producer said.

"I'm sorry for putting fear in you that I would hurt you," he mumbled.

"I know Mom promised you what she'd be for you on your adoption day, but I'm going to make a promise to you right now." Beca said.

"What's that?" Micah asked.

"I promise that I will love you unconditionally. I promise that I will be there when you need me. I promise to be a better mom. I promise that you can count on me no matter what."

"I love you Mama." He said.

"I love you too baby." She said kissing his forehead.

"Are you working Monday?" He asked.

"No, I have the day off. Why?" She asked.

"You and Mom come with me," he said. "That way if she does try anything, you two can intervene."

"Okay, I'll talk to Mom." Beca said. "Oh and Micah?"

"Yeah?" He asked.

"I always wanted a son." She said kissing his head.

Chloe smiled at how heartwarming the conversation, the music teacher looking forward to watching the relationship between the music producer and their son grow.

* * *

 **End of the Chapter A/N:** This came to mind before I even started this story. So I hope it wasn't bad.


	3. Two Proms And A Nightmare

**A/N:** Here we go!

* * *

 **Chapter Three: Two Proms And A Nightmare**

A few weeks after the family weekend, the Mitchell-Beale family found themselves in the midst of a junior and senior prom.

Taylor's senior prom and Micah's junior prom were on the same night on opposite sides of town. Chloe was in Taylor's room helping her get ready. When Taylor entered high school, Beca and Chloe made a pact that the red head would help their daughters get ready for prom.

Mainly because Beca didn't want to be that parent that cried when they were getting ready for their proms. However, she was in Micah's room as he was tying his tie for the upteenth time. She could tell the boy was nervous.

So Beca thought small talk would be nice.

"Mom told me about the girl you're taking to prom." She said.

"Emerson, yeah." He said making sure everything was looking okay.

"Are you interested in her for more than a prom date?" Beca asked.

"I've had a crush on her since the first grade." He said. "So yeah. But, she'd never like me that way."

"Why not?" Beca asked getting up to straighten his tie.

"I'm a jock, she's a nerd. There's no way she'd like me like that. I'm way too dumb anyway." He said fixing his hair.

"Hey, woah, no." Beca said. "You're not dumb at all baby."

"I'm a C average student." He said. "I maintain grades to stay a student athlete."

"But I know you, you try hard. That doesn't make you dumb." Beca said helping him put on his jacket. He brushes his hand down to straighten it out.

Then turns to his mama with a small smile, "So, how do I look?" He asked.

"Oh my god," Beca said, "you look so handsome."

Almost like clockwork, Chloe comes into the room to tell Beca that Taylor wanted her to see her, but stopped in her tracks when she saw her son, "How do I look Mom?" He asked.

"So handsome." Chloe said. "That suit looks good on you."

Chloe came up and started pressing kisses all over his cheek, "Okay," he mumbled. "Okay!" He chuckled.

Chloe pulled back as Beca took her into her arms, "Taylor wants some mama time right now," Chloe said to Beca.

"Okay," she said. "This one could use some Mom time. Y'know before that Mom chaperones his junior prom." The music producer added.

"Thanks Mama," he said. "I love you too."

Beca placed a kiss on his cheek and walked out of the room giving the two time, "So," Chloe said, "Emerson Daley?"

He nodded his head once, "Emerson Daley." He said.

"She seems like a nice girl." Chloe said.

"I've known her since preschool," the boy said. "I've had a big crush on her since the first grade."

Chloe runs her hands down his jacket, "Well you'll have a great time." She said. "Even if I'm chaperoning?"

"I think you're a cool mom." He said.

"Yeah? What about Mama?" Chloe said knowing that the music producer could hear them.

He shrugged, "She can be," he said.

"I heard that," they heard from the other side of the bathroom.

"I love you Mama," he called.

"Love you too kiddo!" She immediately called back.

Micah then turned back to his mom, "So uh, a bunch of us chipped in for a limo, and after prom we're all headed over to Matthew and Emerson's house to play video games and hang out." He said.

"Sounds like a good plan." Chloe said straightening out his suit. "Do you need money?"

"No, I saved my allowance for the past couple of weeks." He said, "But, thank you!"

"We need pictures of them both!" Beca yelled from the other side of the bathroom.

"Yes!" Chloe said excitedly.

Just as she said that the doorbell rings, "Oooh, dates are here!" Beca called out.

"Mama, I'm gonna need your badass card," Micah said messing with his tie.

"I'm all about the family." Beca called back.

"Get Dani to take the pictures," Chloe called back hearing a groan from her youngest. "She has the nicer camera."

"Just lemme sleep," the girl called back.

Beca walked into the youngest girl's room through the bathroom, "C'mon get up, do it for your mother." She said knowing that her wife had everybody in this house wrapped around her fingers.

A thump that sounded like the girl was getting out of bed came and so did a series of mumbling as the other four of the family went downstairs to get the door.

* * *

"Alright," Chloe said, "could we just get the two Mitchell-Beale's solo and then we'll let you go."

Taylor and Micah came together for the picture, Micah being slightly taller than Taylor wrapped his arm around her upper back while Taylor wrapped her arm around his lower back.

"Smile Micah," Dani mumbled behind the camera.

"Yeah bubba," Chloe said, "show some teeth."

Micah smiled as Dani snapped four or five pictures of them before saying to their moms, "You two get in there." The couple walked on either side of the prom-goers, Beca on Taylor's right and Chloe on Micah's left. Dani snapped a few pictures of the four before saying, "Alright, I'm done. I'll have this in the family dropbox and probably on Facebook by the time you three get home."

"Sounds good," Chloe said. "Thank you baby." The music teacher came and kissed her forehead. "You okay?" She then asked running her hand through the girl's hair.

Dani nodded, "Soccer just took a lot out of me today," she said leaning into the hand that was running through her hair.

"Do you want a backrub when I get home?" Chloe asked. The girl nodded. "Okay, I should be home around 12:15. You'll still be up?"

She nodded, "Most likely," she mumbled.

"Okay, I'll come in your room." She said kissing her forehead again. "I love you."

"Love you too." She said kissing her mom's cheek before walking upstairs.

Beca came behind her wife and softly placed a kiss on her neck, "The kids want to say goodbye before leaving." The music producer said.

"Something's not right with her Bec," Chloe said still staring at the stairwell.

"I'll talk with her, okay?" Beca said kissing Chloe's neck again, "But baby girl and boy boy want to say goodbye since you know baby boy probably won't acknowledge you at the dance."

"What makes you think that?" Chloe said turning in her wife's arms. "He happens to think I'm a really cool mom."

"If he acknowledges you at prom, I'm going to have to take his kid card away from him." Beca said. "The last thing I would want is my mom to be chaperoning the prom. Even if she was super cool and beautiful." Beca leans into kiss her wife softly on the lips. "Now go say goodbye."

Chloe walks over to Taylor first because whether or not, Micah would acknowledge her at his prom, at least she'd see him.

"Bye baby girl," Chloe said. "Have fun, be safe."

"I will," she said kissing her mom's cheek and hugging her. "Thanks for helping me get ready."

"You're welcome love," she said. "I wanna hear all about it in the morning. Mother-daughter breakfast date?"

"Of course," the girl said. "Could we do it at like 10 though?"

"You bet." She said then turning to Taylor's date, Parker, who happened to be Emily's son and Taylor's boyfriend since the eighth grade. "You take care of her."

"Yes, ma'am." He said hugging Chloe. "The others are waiting though."

"Of course," Chloe said. "Bye."

"Bye," the seniors said as they turned around.

Chloe then turned to see her son flirting with his date waiting for his goodbye, "Have fun baby boy," she said. "And be safe."

"You know I will be Mom." He said kissing her forehead before hugging her.

"And you take care of him," she said to Emerson.

"Wouldn't want to do anything else, Mrs. Mitchell-Beale." She said.

"Yo Forrester- I mean, Mitchell-Beale," one of his friends corrected. "We need to get going."

"Yeah, give me a second, Bradshaw." He called back to the boy named Aiden.

"I'll try not to bother you at prom," Chloe said.

"Don't worry about it." Micah said. "I'll see you." He added kissing her cheek before taking Emerson's hand and going to the group of his friends.

Beca came behind Chloe again, resting her chin on the redhead's shoulder and said, "When do you have to be there?"

"About a half an hour." Chloe said watching their son help his date into the limo.

"Can we cuddle until you have to leave?" Beca asked.

Chloe smiled, "Of course." She said as the music producer guided the music teacher up to the front porch swing.

When they sat down they fell into the same mold they had been for twenty years, Chloe's head on Beca's chest while Beca played with red hair and every so often kissing the top of Chloe's head.

This was Chloe's favorite place to be in and Beca will only ever admit it to Chloe, but it was her favorite spot too.

* * *

After Chloe left, Beca made her way into her youngest daughter's room. The girl was sitting in front of her computer editing the pictures she just took of her older siblings, their friends, and her moms.

"Hey princess," she said, coming behind her to rub the tension in the girl's shoulders.

"Hi Mama," the girl said.

Beca looked up at the pictures on the screen, "Oh honey," she said. "Those are beautiful."

"Thanks," Dani said with a small smile.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Fine," she mumbled.

"Princess?" Beca said.

"I'm fine," she said. "You and Mom can stop worrying."

"We're always going to worry," Beca said.

"Well, I'm fine anyway." Dani said.

"Can I at least keep you company?" Beca asked. "It's just you and I in the house right now."

"I kinda just want to be alone." She said. "Sorry."

Beca took a deep breath, "Okay, I'll be in the home studio in the basement if you need me." She said.

"Okay." Dani said as Beca kissed her princess' temple and walking out of the room.

* * *

Chloe stood against the wall at the South Los Angeles High School junior prom. She was trying to not be obvious that she was watching Micah and Emerson dance. She noticed the pattern, when it was a fast song, it was the two of them with their group of friends, and when it was a slow song, it was just the two of them.

The redhead would probably never tell her son this, but she didn't trust Emerson Daley in the slightest. There was something off about how the girl and the mother didn't want her son to get hurt. She heard the rumors around campus, not always believing them, but she could believe the rumors the girl, she didn't want to tell her son that. She knew what that would lead to, so until the time comes, she'd keep her comments to herself.

She was lost in thought when Micah came up in front of her where the drinks were.

"Hi Mrs. Mitchell-Beale," he said playfully. He stopped calling you that at school when he became a Mitchell-Beale.

"Hi Mr. Mitchell-Beale." She said back. "Having a good time?"

"I am," he said. "You okay?" He asked coming around to rub her arm. It was a habit that the redhead new he picked up from Beca. "You seem to be in deep thought."

"I'm fine baby," she said not wanting to tell her what she was thinking. "I'm tired and I still have to go home a grade papers."

"Thank you for being here," he said gratefully.

Chloe smiled, "Of course baby." She said as he walked back to his group of friends.

She hoped that she could shake off whatever feeling she felt about Emerson because when her eyes traveled back to the two, she saw the happiness all over her son's face.

* * *

"Like she is pushing me away," Beca said to Emily drinking a beer. She had invited her over because she was really lonely and they had to finish a song anyway. "She's pushing Chloe away and I'm tired of watching my wife hurt."

Emily took a sip of the glass of wine that Beca had poured her from the bottle that she and Chloe hadn't finished a couple of nights before, "Is that all? Like what else is she doing?"

"She sleeps a lot." Beca said. "Like, it's 9:30 on a Saturday night and I bet she's sleeping right now. What teenager does that?" Beca sighed, "She gets irritable easily. Micah took got in the shower first yesterday morning and I swear unless Chloe intervened it would've been World War III. We have to tell her to put more food on her plate and even that's a battle. We just got her week 12 progress report and her grades are slipping. We made sure that she and Taylor got into the best college prep academy in all of Los Angeles and she's throwing it all away."

"It sounds like she has depression," Emily said softly. "Did something bad happen recently?"

"She and Isaiah broke up with her about a month ago." Beca said sipping her beer.

"Did she tell you why?" Emily asked.

"No," Beca said. "Which is weird because my princess _always_ tells me things. Even when things are hard to talk about."

"Maybe she did something that she doesn't think you'll ever forgive her for." Emily said making Beca look at her, "I'm not saying that I know anything, but I know she wants to please you and Chloe all the time, maybe it's something she can't talk about yet."

"I just wish I could help her," Beca said.

"I think the best thing you could do is wait until she's ready to talk to you. I know that's what I do with you." Emily said.

"What do you mean?" Beca asked tilting her head.

"Like earlier, I asked you if you were okay and you mumbled yeah and then I didn't push it until you brought out the alcohol and you started to talk." She said. "She has half of your DNA in you Mitchell-Beale."

"Thanks Junk." She mumbled. "You're right."

"I know, but you telling me boosts my ego even more." Emily said.

After several minutes of silence, Beca then looked at Emily, and said, "Have you heard from Benji lately?" The two had gotten together freshman year and he got her pregnant by senior year and then left her high and dry after leaving the hospital. He came back into her and Parker's life when the boy was 13 and has been in and out ever since.

"No, I think Parker has though," she said. "I've been encouraging him to build a relationship with him. Even if he's still angry."

"He looked happy when he came over for dinner the other night." Beca mentioned. "And when we asked him how Benji was he didn't get mad like he usually does, so that's a start."

"Yeah," Emily said fondly. "Taylor's been good for him too. She keeps him humble and grounded."

"He does the same for her," Beca said. "Thanks for coming over tonight, legacy." She added tacking on the college nickname on with it.

"Don't mention it," she said. "We better get working on that song."

"Yeah," she said. "Definitely."

* * *

Taylor and Parker stumbled into the Mitchell-Beale house around midnight, Emily had sent a text to her son saying that she was there and to come after prom. Chloe wasn't too far behind them.

"Hi guys," she said. "Prom king and queen?" She then asked eyes lighting up.

"Yeah," they said.

"Congratulations!" She said kissing both of their cheeks. Parker was like a son to her and Beca.

"Thanks," they both said as both Beca and Emily emerged from the basement.

"Eastwind Academy Prom King and Queen!" Beca said.

"Yeah!" They said back. "Where's Micah?" Taylor asked.

"Right here," he said. "I was supposed to be at Matthew and Emerson's, but their parents had to go out of town at the last minute on business and I don't feel comfortable being there without their parents."

"That's my boy," the moms said.

"Hi Parker, Aunt Emily." He said.

"Hi Micah," they said.

"Prom king and queen?" Micah asked. "That's what's up."

"Thanks," the younger couple said.

"I promised a soccer player a back rub when I got home," Chloe said. "If you two wanna crash on the pull-out couch, you're always welcome."

"Thanks Chlo," Emily said.

"Yeah, thanks Aunt Chloe." Parker said. "We could play video games," he then said to Micah. "If that's okay with you," he then turned to his girlfriend.

"Yeah, I need to finish a little homework anyway." Taylor said.

"Let's do it!" Micah said. "I have clothes you could change into."

"Thanks man." Parker said as the two left the room.

* * *

Chloe changed her clothes, took off her make up, and brushed her teeth before she made her way to Dani's room. When she knocked on the door, she opened it, and saw her daughter in the midst of a nightmare.

 _"No, no, no." Dani mumbled in her sleep. "No, no, no."_

"Dani sweetheart, wake up," Chloe said. The girl jolted awake, "Hey, hey, it's just me. It's just Mommy." She said trying to sooth the girl.

 _"Mommy,"_ the girl breathed.

"I got you," she said gathering her in her arms. "Mommy's got you."

The girl then buried her face into the redhead's chest, inwardly thankful that this is the mother she could cry in front of without making her cry instantly. Chloe rocked her baby girl back and forth humming softly.

And when Beca came in to check on two of her girls about an hour later, she found the two of them asleep, Dani sleeping on Chloe's chest. The music producer covered them both up with a blanket and kissed them both on their foreheads turning off the light. Leaving them alone for the night.

* * *

 **End of the Chapter A/N:** So things are getting angsty with the Mitchell-Beale family in the next couple of chapters, any guesses on what's going on in Dani's head? I know exactly where I'm taking this.

Also- a heads up! I'm moving two weeks from Friday, so I cannot guarantee how quickly the updates will be as I'm currently taking a break from packing my entire childhood bedroom into boxes and making a big move over 400 miles away from my hometown. I'll try my best to update as fast as possible!


	4. A Constant Reminder Every Single Day

**A/N:** Angst. That's all I gotta say. I've been in one of those kinds of moods lately.

It didn't save the last part to this, so I had to take it down and reupload- I apologize.

 **Trigger Warning: Rape, abortion**

* * *

 **Chapter Four: A Constant Reminder Every Single Day**

The night before Taylor graduated from high school, Beca couldn't handle Dani's secluded behavior. Chloe had told her about the nightmare she had walked into the night of the prom after almost every night for a week she'd catch Chloe standing outside the soccer player's door watching the teenager sleep.

"We have to talk to her about it," Beca told Chloe while they were lying in bed talking about their youngest.

"She's just going to lie to us baby," Chloe said laying her head on the music producer's chest.

Beca played with the music teacher's hair, "She's distant and I can't stand seeing her like this." She said. "Am I wrong to be freaking out about this?"

"No, I'm worried about her too, but there's not much we can do." Chloe said.

"Something happened," Beca said playing with red locks.

"She's on summer break now," Chloe said. "We could talk to her, see what's going through her head."

"You're really calm about this," Beca said. "You broke down in my arms after you told me about the nightmare she had."

"I'm already a mess that our big girl is all grown up and graduating from Eastwind." Chloe said, "Can I choose the one _happy_ emotional breakdown at a time please?"

"You're right," Beca said. "I'm just worried about her. She isn't the same."

"I know honey," Chloe said. "I know."

"What do we do?" Beca asked.

"Set up an ambush," Chloe said. "You, me, Taylor, and Micah. Get her to crack."

"Before or after Taylor receives her high school diploma?" Beca asked.

"Before, tomorrow morning, at breakfast." Chloe said. "We need to get to the bottom of this."

"You just said she was going to lie to us." Beca reminded.

"Yeah," she said. "But, we could try."

"Okay," Beca said kissing her wife's head.

"I love you Bec," Chloe murmured.

"I love you too, Chlo." Beca murmured back.

* * *

"Morning princess," Beca said to Dani the next morning.

"Morning," she mumbled.

Beca placed a soft kiss on her forehead as Chloe said, "Breakfast."

"Food," Micah said with Beca as the boy walked into the room.

"Why do you two say that?" Taylor asked her mama and brother.

"Because, well, _food._ " Beca said.

"And I don't go hungry in the house," Micah said.

"Right," Taylor said. Sometimes she forgets that he know what that's like.

"Dani," Chloe said. "Please put more food on your plate."

"I'm not really hungry," she mumbled.

"You normally eat like a teenage boy during soccer season," Taylor mentioned. "Everything okay?"

"Fine," she bit back.

"Hey," Beca said, "easy on your sister."

"What's going on with you?" Chloe asked.

"Nothing," she said.

Beca and Taylor then asked at the same time, "Are you sure?"

"Positive." She said.

Micah then looked at his sister and said, "We're not stupid, Dani. We know something's wrong, did Isaiah do something? You've been off since the break up. Did he hurt you in anyway other than emotionally?"

"It's none of your business, Micah." She said.

"It kinda is if you're going to continue to chew me out every time I beat you to the shower." He said.

"Maybe you should think about asking first." She bit back.

"Hey," Chloe said, "no. Enough of that. Tell us what's wrong. _Now._ " She added in a voice that told the family that she was dead serious.

The family expected silence before her answer, but what they didn't expect was the sob that escaped from the girl's mouth.

"I - I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry," was all that came out of the girl's mouth.

Chloe took the girl into her lap, suddenly grateful that they have benches around the table, so that she could do that. Beca moved from the other side of the table and sat where Dani was previously sitting. Taylor moved to where Beca had been sitting to give the moms some space with her baby sister.

Tears then brimmed in the eyes of Beca, Chloe, Taylor, and Micah as they watch Dani sob in Chloe's arms.

 _What had happened to her?_

When the sobbing died down, Dani took a deep breath, a shaky one, but still a deep breath, nonetheless.

"Every year in high school, Eastwind makes you do a project, you all know that," she started. "They put me and Claire Brasfield together. It was cool, she and I got along, but about a month ago-"

Her breath hitched, "About a month ago, she and I were working late and I ended up staying at her house that night because I was too tired to even call you two to pick me up. I would've been asleep by the time you got there. So I stayed on their pull out couch since I didn't know Claire very well."

She started to shake and making Chloe wrap her arms tighter around her, "Then her older brother, I think his name was Adam, he came in the middle of the night and he-"

The room grew more silent, they all knew what she was talking about now, but they were silent to not scare the girl, "He forced me to have sex with him." She got out.

"I didn't tell anybody, especially not Claire, because I didn't think anybody would believe me. And then- and then, I didn't get my period. Sorry," she then looked over at Micah knowing that her gets weirded out when any of them talk about it.

"It's fine," he said with a shaky voice, "continue. We're here for you."

"I thought it was because I was stressed about the project, but then I remembered how the guy didn't use protection. So then I bought a pregnancy test and it read positive." She continued. "And then Isaiah started to see a change in me and I told him. And he was supportive in my decision to get rid of the baby."

Beca and Chloe's eyes went wide, but they let her continue, "He even paid for half of the procedure out of months saved up of allowance. And then I repay him by breaking up with him because I didn't feel desirable anymore. Because I lost my virginity to some guy who was clearly drunk."

"I'm sorry," she then said to Micah, "for chewing you out about the shower." All the boy could do is nod. "I'm sorry," she said to her moms and sister, "for always snapping at you. I just don't feel like the same Dani anymore."

"It's because you're not," Micah said surprising everybody. "And you probably never will be again."

"How - how do you know?" Dani asked.

"I was sexually assaulted by every single foster parent I had with the exception of Mom and Mama." He admitted. "You're not the same person and you will never be the same person. But, you have something that I didn't," he added.

"What's that?" Dani asked.

"A family who loves you no matter what. A family that through high and hell water will do whatever it takes for you to feel safe again. I'm sorry that happened to you bud." He said adding the nickname he always called her. "But, we're here for you."

Silence fell before Beca had to ask, "How old was he?"

"I think I remember Claire saying that he was twenty-three." She said still in Chloe's arms.

"We're going to make sure that justice is served." Beca said, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because - because I thought you'd hate me for getting rid of the baby." She sobbed out. Making Chloe rock her back and forth.

"We'd never hate you baby," Chloe murmured. "We could never hate you."

"There's this constant reminder every single day that something's different and I realize now how much I need you four." Dani said.

"We're here baby," Beca said. "Every step of the way we're here."

* * *

Beca was rigid over the counter in the bathroom where the couple was getting ready for Taylor's graduation. She was so rigid that she didn't button her shirt of her pants suit up right. Chloe turned her wife around as the music producer was brushing her teeth to fix her shirt.

"You okay as okay can be right now?" Chloe asked.

Beca turned around to spit, knowing her wife found it gross when she talked with toothpaste in her mouth, "Our baby." She got out hunched over the sink. "Our innocent baby."

"I know," Chloe said holding her wife from behind. "We'll get justice, I promise you that."

"She felt like she couldn't come to us." Beca almost cried.

Chloe helped her wife get her pant suit jacket on and then said, "She's scared. And from what it sounds, Micah can help us out."

"You look amazing in that dress," Beca said looking at her wife through the mirror.

"I love this pant suit on you." Chloe said back.

"I know," she said. "I wore it to the Grammy's this year and you spent all night whispering the naughty things you wanted to do to me in my ear."

"Mmmhmmm." Chloe responded.

"We should get down there, help that son of yours tie his tie." Beca said.

"Why is he just _my_ son?" Chloe smirked with an eyebrow raised.

"Because _my_ son would know how to tie a tie without help." She said back.

Chloe playfully smacked his wife's ass on the way out of the bathroom, they knew they still had a lot to talk about, and they would. After the oldest Mitchell-Beale child graduated from Eastwind Academy.

* * *

"Parker Benjamin Junk," the principal called out before the boy walked across the stage.

"Your baby," Beca said to her business partner with her arm around Dani.

"Yeah," Emily said wiping tears away.

Beca looked down at her youngest daughter who was tucked beneath her arm while holding Chloe's hand.

"Where's he going in the fall?" Beca asked Emily.

"He'll be an hour away from Taylor at Brown." She answered.

"Cool," Beca said.

A few minutes later, they heard, "Taylor Lee Mitchell-Beale."

They clapped, Micah whistled with his fingers, and when she made her way across the stage, she smiled at her family.

* * *

After the graduation ceremony at the Mitchell-Beale house, there was the family and Emily and Parker.

Dani was always cuddled into one of her mothers, even if a traumatic event didn't occur in her life, but today, she cuddled into her big brother.

"Is she okay?" Emily asked the couple.

"No," Beca said. "She's far from okay."

"She was really ra- taken advantage of?" She said instead of the actual word.

Chloe nodded close to tears, Beca pulled her wife into her. "Who told you?" Beca asked softly.

"She did." Emily assured. "When I asked if she was okay, she broke down crying, and told me."

Beca nodded, "She's not okay." She told her business partner.

"Is there anything I can do?" Emily asked.

"Just be Aunt Emily," Chloe said. "Love on her."

Emily nodded, "I hope she gets the justice she deserves." She said.

"We're planning on getting it," Beca said. "But, in the meantime, let's celebrate our babies."

"Yes," Chloe and Emily said.

"Uh, Moms?" Taylor said coming into the kitchen.

"What's up lovey?" Chloe said running her hand through dark blonde hair that belonged to her oldest.

"D - Dani is having a panic attack right now and Micah doesn't know how to calm her down." She stammered.

Beca rushed into the room to see her youngest lying in the fetal position on the floor and Micah holding an Xbox controller in one hand while he and Parker were standing over the girl trying to calm Dani down.

"Boys," she said softly yet firmly, "back away." The boys did as the music producer was told as both Beca and Chloe squatted down and Beca said, "Dani princess, I need you to breathe for me."

"Mama," she breathed.

"Yes, Mama and Mom are here," Beca said. "You're okay. We got you."

"Mommy," she called for Chloe.

"Mommy's right here baby," Chloe said. "We're not going anywhere. Lean back into Mama and watch me as I help you breathe."

Dani did as Chloe asked and the music teacher got the girl's breathing back to normal.

Chloe's eyes then traveled up to her wife's, they needed something done and they needed it done _now._

* * *

That night, the two were in their bedroom and it was evident that Beca was angry. Chloe could see this and knew she needed to do something about it.

"C'mere," she said to the music producer, patting between her legs, when they made brief eye contact.

Beca obeyed her wife's soft commands and sat between the redhead's legs, relaxed when Chloe began massaging her back and neck.

"You really know how to take care of me," Beca murmured.

"That's my job as your wife," Chloe said. A few minutes of silence fell between them and then Chloe said, "Should we call Aubrey?"

Aubrey, their family lawyer, someone who Beca had grown to be fond of over the years. They had a rough start to their friendship back during the Barden Bella days, but as the blonde saw her redhead best friend fall in love for the brunette, she softened her approach and while they still loved to banter with each other, the initial hatred for that the lawyer and music producer had towards each other went away. Aubrey was the godmother of their two girls and she had helped them finalize the adoption for Micah. She was a huge part of the Mitchell-Beale family, as their Bella sister and as their family lawyer.

"Is she still up?" Beca asked, "Could we like call and see what we could do now?"

"Of course, love. It's only 8:30, she's still up." Chloe said as Beca reached over and grabbed her phone.

Chloe continued to massage Beca's back as the music producer called Aubrey, she put it on speaker so both of them could be apart of the conversation.

 _"What's up Mitchell-Beale?" Aubrey answered the phone._

"Hey Posen," Beca said back, "is this a good time to talk? You're on speaker, it's just me and Chloe."

 _"You know I'll always make time for you two." The woman said. "What's up?"_

So they told her, every painful detail that Dani had told the family at breakfast, and it was hard for the words to get out of their mouth. Chloe even had to stop massaging Beca because she was crying and Beca ended up shifting her into her lap because it was so hard for them to comfort her.

"You still there Posen?" Beca asked after a moment of silence.

 _"My monkey was taken advantage of?" Was all the blonde lawyer could get out._

"Yeah," Beca said.

 _"We'll get justice," Aubrey said. "I'll be damned if I don't."_

"Thank you Bree," Chloe got out. "We appreciate everything you do for us."

 _"Once you're initiated into the Bellas, you're sisters for life." Aubrey said. "You two and your kids mean the world to me. Come into the office tomorrow with my monkey. I'll need statements from her, general information about this man, when it happened, where she had the abo- the procedure done. And to be honest, I want to hold my monkey right now anyway."_

"Thank you," Beca got out.

 _"Of course," Aubrey said. "How - how is she?"_

"Not good Bree," Chloe said. "She's pretty depressed and not in the right mindset."

 _"I can imagine." Aubrey said. "How are you two?"_

"We're a mess," Beca said honestly.

 _"I'm sure you are and angry." Aubrey said._

"Very angry." Beca said. "I now understand why fathers are so protective of their daughters."

 _"Yeah," Aubrey said. "I do too. And I don't have kids to show that to me."_

* * *

Dani was in the midst of a nightmare when both Beca and Chloe went to check on her.

 _"No. No. No. No." She mumbled._

"Dani baby," Chloe said, shaking softly. "Wake up for me. Wake up for Mommy."

Dani jolted awake almost punching Beca in the face, "Hey, hey," Beca said grabbing her hands.

"Mommys." Was all she could get out.

"We're here." Chloe said. "We're here."

"We wouldn't want to be anywhere else, princess." Beca said. "We're here. Always here."

"Don't go." The girl said.

"Let's move you to our bed," Chloe said. "No way we all three can fit in this one."

Beca picked their daughter up bridal style and carried her into their bedroom and laid her in the middle of the bed, so that both she and Chloe could hold her. The girl's breathing evened out and she was wide awake staring at the ceiling. The moms knew she wouldn't sleep and tell them what's on her mind that night.

"We called Aunt Bree," Chloe said. "Told her what happened. She wants us to come in her office tomorrow during my lunch break."

"Okay," Dani said knowing better than to fight them.

"We're going to get you into some therapy too." Beca said thinking to what the two talked about after getting off the phone with Aubrey.

"Sounds good," Dani said.

"What can we do baby?" Chloe asked. "How can we help you?"

"Talk about something happy," she said.

So that's what the couple did, they talked about anything and everything happy as the girl curled herself into her mama who made her feel the safest. They talked until the girl fell asleep peacefully. Then Beca looked at Chloe with a watery smile and leaned over a whispered a soft I love you against her lips and kissed her before they went back to sleep themselves.

* * *

The next day at Aubrey's firm, the three of five of the Mitchell-Beale's walked into her office, Dani tucked between Beca and Chloe.

"Hi family," Aubrey softly said as they walked in. Beca shut the door behind them as Aubrey pulled Dani in for the biggest, warmest hug. "Hi monkey." She said then kissing the girl's forehead.

"Hi Aunt Bree," she murmured back.

"I love you." Aubrey said.

"I love you too." She responded.

She pulled back and grabbed the girl's face in her hands, "I know this is hard," Aubrey said, "but I need you to tell me every detail that you vividly remember, okay?"

"Okay," Dani said. "Aunt Bree?"

"Yeah monkey?" Aubrey said.

"Thank you."

"Of course, lovey." Aubrey said. "I'll have my assistant go get you water okay?"

When everybody settled in, Dani was tucked into Beca's side, "Tell Aunt Bree everything baby," the music producer whispered.

The girl took a deep breath, "Eastwind makes us to a project every year from freshman to senior year..."

She told her story and stopping every once and awhile she would stop for a second and bury her face into Beca's side to compose herself, but a case was being made and that's all that mattered.

* * *

 **End of the Chapter A/N:** There will be a trial (not entirely sure how accurate it's going to be) in a few chapters. Light chapters to be between. I've just been in an angsty mood lately.


	5. Finally Found Home

**A/N:** _Big chucks of italics are flashbacks!_

Thank you for your support!

 **The last scene in this chapter is Rated M. If you don't like that, don't worry, you won't miss much of anything.**

* * *

 **Chapter Five: Finally Found Home**

"Mooom," Micah called out on his last day of his junior year.

That was the bummer for the household, Eastwind Academy always started earlier than South Los Angeles High and ended earlier. So Chloe and Micah were almost on completely different school schedules.

"Yeees?" Chloe called back finishing put on her make up.

"Where's my clean uniform polo?" He asked. "And my badge to get onto campus?"

"Polo shirt is in our room, I just washed it and your badge to get on campus is on the hook next to the car keys," Chloe called back as her son came into their room wearing the dark blue t-shirt he wears underneath his dark blue polo shirt and dark blue jeans. "You can't leave it on the ground buddy."

"Thank you." He said. "And, I'm sorry. Finals are kicking me hard."

Her response was a kiss to his cheek before she said, "Also, Mama said before she left this morning that after school today, she's taking you car shopping."

"What? Why?" He asked.

"Because you've had your license for almost a year now and you've proved that you're responsible enough for a car of your own and Mama wants to spoil you a little."

"A little?" He challenged raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, a lot," Chloe said, "she feels bad that you didn't think that she loved you."

Micah hung his head, "Oh," he said.

Chloe lifted his head up and said, "It's not your fault baby. Just let her do this, okay?"

He nodded, "Okay, but seriously, I go to one of the poorest schools in Los Angeles, it can't be anything too flashy." He said.

"You'll have to take that up with her," Chloe said. "You know the cars, she, Taylor, and I drive."

"Yeah," he said thinking about how everybody thinks that he's loaded now. "She is the best music producer in LA, but I'm really not into stuff like that."

"Just let her do it," Chloe said. "You've been driving our cars for the last eight months."

"Okay," he said kissing Chloe's forehead, beginning to tower over her and Beca. He then put the polo on and said, "You probably could've gotten a job in a safer, upperclass neighborhood, like Eastwind, why did you choose South Los Angeles High?"

"I wanted to make a difference and if I didn't I would've never found you." She said kissing his cheek.

"I guess you're right." He said. "I cannot thank you both enough." He smiled, "May I take you out after car shopping for a mother-son date? I'll even pick you up."

"I'd love that baby." She said.

"Cool," he said with a dopey smile.

"You're driving to school though."

"Don't I always?" He replied. Beca taught their girls, but Chloe taught him by letting him drive to school when he got his permit a month into living with them.

* * *

"Mom text me and said that you are academically at the top of your class," Beca said as she picked him up from school.

"Yeah," he said. "I didn't tell her when I found out the other day, to say that she was surprised would be an understatement."

"Really?" Beca asked.

"Uh yeah," he said scratching his back and then continued, "she found me at lunch to hit my arm repeatedly because I didn't tell her."

Beca chuckled, that sounded like her love, "That sounds like something Mom would do." She said putting her arm around the middle of his back.

"So, uh, Mama?" He then said.

"Yes?" She said.

"As much as I appreciate you doing this for me," he said gesturing to the car implying car shopping, "I don't want anything too fancy. I go to one of the poorest schools in LA."

"I know, Mom warned me," Beca said. "We won't go too fancy, but I do want something nice. What kind of car would you want?"

"I've always like a Jeep Wrangler to be honest." He said.

"I can see you in that," Beca said. "Let's look around when we get there."

"Is this what you consider bonding?" He asked.

"Yeah," Beca said. "I feel like you'd understand cars better than Mom and Taylor."

"I know a little," he said.

"A little is better than nothing at all," Beca said.

He chuckled, "Is this why you always wanted a son?" He asked. "To get all nerdy and talk cars?"

"Maybe," she said in the way that told the boy he was right.

"I'll learn so we can talk," he said.

Beca smiled, "Really?"

"Of course." He said.

* * *

"It's perfect," Micah said looking a black Jeep Wrangler about an hour later.

Beca saw the glow in his eyes, the way they lit up when the salesperson brought them over. They were on a used car lot because he did have a point, he went to the poorest school in all of Los Angeles, he didn't need anything flashy.

"We'll take it," Beca said to the salesperson.

"No test drive?" The man asked.

"I dunno, son? Do you want to test drive it?" She asked with him nodding his head a lot more enthusiastically then she's ever seen him. "Alright then yes."

* * *

Chloe was at home waiting for Micah to pick her up and she found herself wandering into Dani's room. The girl was asleep after her third session with the therapist.

Chloe sat on the edge of her bed for awhile running her fingers through the girl's hair. Then after awhile walked out of the room to check on Taylor, who was packing things up to take to Harvard with her.

"Hi baby." She said to her oldest.

"Hi Mom," Taylor said back. "You okay?" The girl asked stopping packing to hold her mother in her arms.

"I'm fine baby." She said knowing that the girl picked this up from her mama. Chloe liked to be held and that was no secret to anybody in the Mitchell-Beale household.

"How are you and Mama holding it together?" Taylor asked. "With me graduating and going to Harvard and everything with Dani, that's a lot to handle."

"Mama and I make sure we have our time," Chloe said. "To talk, express our emotions, and cuddle."

"I know," Taylor said, "I heard Mama crying the other night."

Chloe thinks to that night, that night where she had seen her wife the most vulnerable the redhead's ever seen her.

 _They fell into a routine ever since finding out what had happened to their princess and angel._

 _They would cuddle with her until she was asleep. Then after the girl fell asleep, Beca would put headphones on the girl and then put soft, soothing music on her the iPod that the therapist suggested that they get while Chloe turned on the baby monitor that they had gotten so that they could hear if she was having a nightmare. And then after kissing the girl's forehead, they'd both go into their room to get ready for bed, and spend time with each other._

 _Beca had become used to standing rigid over the vanity as she brushed her teeth. And when she finally falls into bed, the music producer lets her music teacher of a wife rub her back._

 _That night Chloe had straddled her wife's back to get her to relax more and then she heard a muffled sob in the bed._

 _"Baby?" Chloe then said lying on her wife's back knowing somehow that brought comfort to her wife._

 _Beca moved her head to the side and said, "I've never felt so angry in my entire life."_

 _Another sob escaped from her lips and Chloe was quick to sooth her and whisper, "I know baby, I know."_

 _"H-h-hold me." Was stammered out._

 _And as sobs wracked the music producer's body, all the music teacher could do was hold her._

"Is she okay now?" Taylor asked. "Mama?"

"I think so," Chloe said. "This is a blow for all of us. Not just Dani, Mama, and me, all of us."

"How mad was Aunt Bree when you told her?" Taylor asked knowingly.

"She wanted to go find the guy and kill him herself." Chloe said thinking of her best friend. "But, she was just as worried as we all are."

"Have you expressed emotion about this?" Taylor asked her mother knowingly.

"What do you mean?" Chloe asked.

"I've never once seen or heard you cry or be angry." Taylor said. "How are _you_ doing Mom?"

"Fine lovey," she said kissing the girl's head.

"Okay," Taylor said letting it go, but god forbid if she heard crying that night, she wouldn't be able to handle it.

"How long has your sister been out for?" Chloe said successfully changing the subject.

"Since I brought her home from therapy about two hours ago." Taylor said.

"Okay, I'll get her up soon if she doesn't get up herself, she needs to sleep tonight." Chloe said.

"I can get her up if you need some time to yourself." Taylor said trying to help.

"Okay," Chloe said scratching her forehead. "I think Micah is taking me out for a mother-son date tonight too."

"Good, you could use it," the high school graduate said.

* * *

"I'm home with the new car owner," Beca called out as Chloe and Taylor walked to the entry way.

"What kind of car did you get?" Taylor asked.

"A Jeep Wrangler," he answered.

"Let's go see," Chloe said excitedly.

"Where's princess?" Beca asked.

"Sleeping," the other two women answered.

"She can see it later Mama," Micah said. "I understand what's going through her head right now and sometimes it's just better to sleep."

"Okay," she said leading Chloe out with her hand on the small of the redhead's back.

"Oh wow," Taylor said talking about the second car in the driveway, "so beautiful."

"Right?" Micah agreed.

"It's used," Beca told her wife and daughter, "but he did have a point, he _does_ go to the poorest high school in LA, so I compromised a little."

"A _little_?" Chloe asked with a smirk on her face.

"Okay, more than a little, but this one tried to buy it himself with all of the allowance he saved up since he's gotten here." Beca said making Chloe glare at him.

"Bubba, we talked about this," Chloe said.

"Yeah and it's a little weird to have Mama spoil me, okay?" He said rubbing his neck.

Chloe kissed his cheek and said, "I understand. Now, that mother-son date I was promised?"

"Yes! Of course!" He said. "You ready?"

"Yeah," Chloe said turning back to her wife and oldest daughter. "Please wake Dani up in a half hour if she's not up."

"Yes love," Beca said kissing her wife. "Go have fun with our boy!"

"Thank you again Mama," Micah said.

"You're welcome bubba." Beca said kissing his cheek.

And with that Chloe and Micah walked out of the house.

* * *

Beca walked into Dani's room thirty minutes later to see the girl sitting at her desk, reading something on her computer.

"Hey princess," Beca said making her presence known.

"Hi mama," Dani murmured.

"How was your nap?" Beca asked.

"Good, sorry I'm sleeping a lot." Dani said.

"It's fine princess." Beca said. "Can we cuddle?"

"Uh yeah sure, where is everybody?" Dani said as Beca got in the bed and Dani shifted to place her head on her mama's chest.

"Mom and Micah went out on a mother-son date, Taylor is at Parker's, so it's just you and me tonight." Beca said running fingers through the girl's hair.

"Can we just eat leftovers and cuddle?" Dani asked. "I - I feel safe in your arms."

Beca kissed her forehead, "Of course, princess." She whispered tightening her arms around the girl.

"Can we just stay here for a little while more?" The girl asked. "You're cozy."

Beca kissed her daughter's cheek, "I love you princess." She whispered.

"I love you too, Mama." The girl said.

* * *

"I can't believe you talked Mama into getting you a used car." Chloe said.

"I go to the worst school in the city," Micah said focused on his driving.

Chloe placed a motherly hand on the boy's thigh, "So, uh, you haven't really talked about it since you initially brought it up, but why the military after high school?"

"Uh, yeah, maybe I should clarify," he said. "If I don't get accepted into West Point, I'm enlisting."

"Oh," Chloe said rubbing her thumb against his thigh.

Micah took a deep breath and said, "I could change my plans if you want."

" _No_ ," Chloe said firmly. " _Don't ever_ change you plans for _anybody._ Not me, not Mama, not your sisters. Anybody."

"Emerson seems to think that if I go away, I'll be deployed and will never be back." He said. "She won't get together with me for that reason."

Chloe sighed, she knew she had to share her concerns with her son, "May I ask what you see in her?" Chloe asked rubbing her hand on his thigh in a motherly way.

"She's smart, funny, and sweet, I guess." He said.

"So you don't listen to what kids around school?" She asked.

"I don't listen to school gossip Mom." He said. "Half of it isn't true."

"I know baby, but still. I don't want you to get hurt." Chloe said.

"She won't date me anyway, Mom." He said.

"You don't know that." She said.

"I asked her out to prom and then during prom I asked her to be my girlfriend and she said and I quote, 'I could never date a boy who made Mrs. Mitchell-Beale pity them so much that she convinced her partner to take him in and adopt him.' So yeah."

"I didn't pity you." Chloe said.

"I know that Mom, but it is a little weird that I was on track for emancipation and then you, Mama, and the sisters swoop in and save me." He said pulling into the parking lot of their favorite restaurant in Los Angeles.

"I _love_ you. You stole my heart the moment you walked into my music class freshman year." She said. "And at first, I didn't know why, but then I learned how much of a heart you have. I didn't pity you. I _loved_ you. Still do. More than I'll ever understand. More than you'll ever know."

"I love you too, Mom." He said as he got out of the car to open the door for her.

* * *

"How's Dani?" Emily asked Taylor as they were watching tv together.

"She's okay." Taylor said with her head on Parker's chest.

"Are they taking it to court?" Emily asked.

"Yeah," she said as Parker's fingers went through her naturally curly dark blonde hair. "Next week."

"How are you doing with it all?" Emily asked.

"I'm mad." She said. "I hope this guy gets what he deserves."

"I'm going to go make dinner," Parker said, not wanting to be apart of the conversation because it angered him that much. "You staying babe?"

"Yeah," Taylor said as she kissed him and waited before he walked out of the room to continue the conversation with Emily. "How's my mama been at work?"

"She's really zoned out," Emily admitted. "We have to shake her out of it sometimes. The interns are scared of her more so now. How is she at home?"

"She holds Dani a lot now." Taylor said. "I haven't seen her like this before."

"Not even with Micah?" Emily asked. She didn't know about the whole _'do you really love me'_ debacle. She knew Beca as someone who loved her kids, _all of her kids,_ little did she know.

"They have an interesting relationship." Taylor said. "He's more of a mommy's boy that a mama's boy."

"I can see that," the older woman said, "Chloe seems to have him and your mama wrapped around her fingers."

"She has us _all_ wrapped around her fingers." Taylor murmured. "When Chloe Mitchell-Beale is sad or mad, nobody, and I mean, _nobody,_ in the Mitchell-Beale house can take it."

"I kinda got that feeling when your mama was rushing out of the office to celebrate their anniversary a few months ago."

"Yeah," Taylor said. "It's not pretty."

"How's your mom doing with this whole thing with Dani?" Emily asked.

"She's trying to act strong. I know that, she refuses to show any emotion about it." Taylor said.

"That sounds like a Beca move." Emily said.

"Roles are reversed. Mama is showing more emotion than Mom." Taylor said.

* * *

Micah and Chloe were walking along the beach talking, "So you never answered my question earlier," Chloe said, "why the military after high school?"

"The Forrester's have been in the military since the Civil War. Every single Forrester man has attended West Point since the beginning and if they didn't get accepted they joined the Army. And I know my last name is Forrester anymore, I know it's Mitchell-Beale now, but something deep down in me wants to live out that legacy." He said. "I can get an athletic scholarship if you and Mama can't or don't want to afford it. It's not that I don't think I'm not cut out for another college. It's not that I don't want to go to Harvard or Yale or Barden, it's legally and emotionally I maybe a Mitchell-Beale, but something deep within me is still a Forrester."

Chloe could sense that he wasn't done, so she let him wrap his arm around her as they continued walking as he talked.

"My dad loved the military. We moved in and out of the country and throughout the states before he retired because of the cancer." He said.

He never talked about his family and Chloe didn't want to interrupt, but she didn't know how his dad died, "He had cancer?" She asked.

He nodded, "Stage four. Pancreatic." He said. "He was diagnosed when I was three, died on my fourth birthday."

Chloe gasped, "Oh honey." She said. No wonder he didn't like his birthday.

"My mo-, uh Sarah took it really hard." He said. "That's when she got into drugs and alcohol." He used his free hand to rub his face. "It was okay at first, but when CPS got involved, I knew I wasn't ever going to live with her again. I never thought I'd find home. That's why I was on track for emancipation until-"

"Until I saved you." Chloe said knowingly.

"And I found home." He said kissing the top of his mother's head. They walked in silence for a few moments, both lost in thoughts, it wasn't until Micah said something that snapped Chloe out of it, "How are you so calm about this whole thing with Dani?"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I mean, you haven't showed any kind of emotion." He said. "How are you so calm?"

Chloe thought about it and was reminded of the conversation she had with Taylor earlier that evening and for once couldn't hold in emotion since hearing what happened to her precious angel.

She hadn't meant for it to happen, but she let out a sob. It surprised Micah and he immediately took off his jacket placed it down on the sand and pulled his mother down with him to hold her.

The two sat there for over an hour as Chloe cried. Micah had thought about calling Beca because he felt like it wasn't his place to comfort his distraught mother, but then realized that maybe, just maybe what she needed right now was not a worried wife, but for him to just hold her and let her cry.

* * *

 **This next scene is: NSFW; NC-17; Rated M. Mature Content ahead. If you choose to skip it, that's fine. This is all you'll miss:**

 **"Where did that come from?" Beca asked.**

 **"I broke down in Micah's arms tonight about all that Dani's going through." Chloe said.**

 **The music producer spooned her from behind, "I knew you'd break eventually. I'm sorry I couldn't have been there for you. Though, I'm glad Micah was. He seems to be a good comforter."**

 **"Can you just hold me?" Chloe asked.**

 **"You know you don't have to ask, my love." The brunette said. "Though I might have to repay you for that once my heart settles down."**

 **Chloe chuckled, "Okay."**

 **The two lied there in complete silence just, Chloe turned around and kissed Beca softly on the lips before burying her face into the brunette's neck as the music producer put her chin on the stop of the music teacher's head. Chloe softly cried and Beca held on tight, letting the tears flow down her face, both crying together.**

* * *

When Micah and Chloe got home that night, Dani had suggested a siblings video game night in the den with the boy and Taylor, who had gotten home just before the other two did, and they immediately agreed. It was the first thing the girl initiated to do as siblings.

Chloe went to find her wife and when she did, the music producer was trying to find clothes to be more comfortable in. It was rare for Chloe to be the dominate one. Ever since they started dating Beca's sophomore year at Barden, the music producer was the more dominate one and when the music teacher chose to be dominate, it turned Beca on in ways she couldn't quite comprehend.

Chloe wrapped her arms around Beca and kissed her neck aggressively making Beca moan.

"Hi baby." Beca said turning in her lover's arms.

Chloe mumbled a hi back and then continue her assault of kisses up and down her neck, sucking on her pulse point.

"Woah," Beca said as Chloe picked her up off of the ground and carried her to the bed. "Okay." She then said.

Chloe then makes eye contact, it had been evident to Beca that the redhead had been crying that night, but when the music teacher closes the gap between them. Beca knew it was a conversation for another time.

Chloe began kissing her neck and taking off her wife's shirt and kissing her chest making Beca moan and having the music producer's hands find red hair. Chloe took off Beca's bra and start sucking on nipples. "I love you." The music teacher mumbled into her wife.

"I love you too." Beca breathed out as Chloe's mouth continued to suck on breasts. "Are - are you sure?" Beca then got out. They haven't had sex since before Dani's admission. Chloe gave her a look that said, _Yeah, I'm sure._

The red head continue to suck before kissing all the way down and taking the brunette's pants and underwear off and kissing down her right leg before shoving her tongue into her core.

"Holy fuck." Beca breathed out. Chloe continued to suck on her wife's clit and Beca's hands found her way to her wife's hair. "K-keep going."

Chloe continued to suck on her clit, shoving her tongue in and out, and she felt her wife coming close to an orgasm and she kissed up her body and began shoving fingers into Beca's core.

"Oh fuuck!" Beca let out. "K-k-keep going!"

Chloe made out with her and continued making out with her with Beca's hips thrusting up to into the fingers.

"I'm about to cum." Beca mumbled into Chloe's mouth.

"Cum for me baby," Chloe mumbled back into her mouth.

Chloe thrusted two more times before she knew her wife orgasmed against her.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck," Beca said as she orgasmed.

"Yeah, that's it, that's it." Chloe said. "Your face looks so beautiful when you cum."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Beca said.

Chloe cuddle into her while she came down from her high. And when Beca finally came down she asked, "Where did that come from?" Beca asked.

"I broke down in Micah's arms tonight about all that Dani's going through." Chloe said.

The music producer spooned her from behind, "I knew you'd break eventually. I'm sorry I couldn't have been there for you. Though, I'm glad Micah was. He seems to be a good comforter."

"Can you just hold me?" Chloe asked.

"You know you don't have to ask, my love." The brunette said. "Though I might have to repay you for that once my heart settles down."

Chloe chuckled, "Okay."

The two lied there in complete silence just, Chloe turned around and kissed Beca softly on the lips before burying her face into the brunette's neck as the music producer put her chin on the stop of the music teacher's head. Chloe softly cried and Beca held on tight, letting the tears flow down her face, both crying together.

* * *

 **End of the Chapter A/N:** Been writing this in between packing boxes, saying goodbye to a bunch of people, and trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'm not coming back to this home when I come visit my hometown. So if this chapter is a little rough I apologize. It's been a hard two weeks.

With that being said, I don't know when the next update is coming. I move Friday and it's already chaotic where I'm moving to down there and I'll need some time to settle in and get the hang of things, but I'll try to update in a week or so.


	6. Missing Puzzle Piece

**A/N:** So the trial will be next chapter. This chapter is featuring a lot of the Bellas who are going to there in support of the Mitchell-Beale family!

 _Big chunk of italics is a flashback!_

Thank you for the support!

* * *

 **Chapter Six: Missing Puzzle Piece**

Beca admits unashamedly that she didn't want to go to Barden at first, but once her then future wife barged into her shower freshman year, things changed.

What she didn't know is that when she was initiated into the Bellas that they would become instant forever family, in a small way, she knew what Micah was talking about when he said that his forever family is the best family.

They told their acapella family what happened to their youngest daughter and all of them flew from all around the country to be with the Mitchell-Beale family in a time of anger and hurt.

They all came because their sisters needed them, their nieces needed them, and even though the only Bellas who had met Micah were Emily and Aubrey, their nephew needed them.

And Beca meant what she said around that campfire at the retreat her senior year:

 _"When I look back on this, I won't remember performing and competing. I'm going to remember you weirdos. It makes me really sad that it won't ever be like this again. I'm going to miss you guys."_

Micah stood at the airport wearing his baseball jersey for South Los Angeles High School and the baseball cap that went with it sat on his head with the bill popped up a little bit. He had earphones in and was bouncing backwards and forwards on his feet holding a sign that read:

 _Aca-family of Beca and Chloe Mitchell-Beale_

Fat Amy was the first to arrive with Bumper - they came from Arkansas.

"Micah Benjamin?" Fat Amy said.

"Yes," he said. "I'll take it by the accent that you're Aunt Amy and Uncle Bumper?"

"Yes, yes," Fat Amy said engulfing him in a hug. "You're much more handsome than the pictures we got. Right, Bumper?"

"Yes, yes," he said.

Micah nervously chuckled, "Thanks," he said.

"I'll go get our bags baby," Bumper said kissing Fat Amy's cheek.

Just before things got too awkward, Cynthia Rose came down the escalator, "Fat Amy!" She called.

"Hey!" Fat Amy turns around.

"You must be Micah Benjamin," Cynthia Rose said.

"That's me," the boy said awkwardly sticking out his hand, but was engulfed in another hug. "Uh, not to be rude, but who are you?"

"Cynthia Rose." The girl said.

"Ah yes, Aunt Cynthia, Taylor told me all about you last night." He said.

"Hey aca-bitches," came the voice of Stacie Conrad. "And nephew I've never met before."

"Aunt-?" He said trying to get her to say her name.

"Stacie," the woman said. "Aunt Stacie."

"Aunt Stacie," he said sticking his hand out to shake.

"Boy," Cynthia Rose said, "don't you know by now that none of us are going to shake your hand?"

"One can dream, right?" He mumbled.

One by one the rest of the Bellas came down and hugged him.

First it was Lily, who had got rid of her awkward, shy ways and talked normally now. Then it was Ashley and Jessica, which Micah will never admit that he's confused on who is who. And finally Flo came down.

Bumper had come back with his and Fat Amy's bags and as the rest of the women got their bags, Micah sent a text in the family ongoing text message:

 _[Micah, June 23rd, 4:50pm]: Picked up the aca-family and I officially am not a fan of Moms or Taylor._

 _[Mama, June 23rd, 4:52pm]: Hugged by them all?_

 _[Micah, June 23rd, 4:53pm]: Yes. I don't want hugs from any of you for another month._

 _[Mom, June 23rd, 4:55pm]: That's not happening love. You know Mama, sisters, and I love hugs._

 _[Taylor, June 23rd, 4:56pm]: Yeah, especially since we're all on our periods this week._

 _[Micah, June 23rd, 4:56pm]: Ew. So didn't need to know that._

 _[Dani, June 23rd, 4:57pm]: Thank you bubba for doing aunt/uncle pick up duty so I could be with moms._

 _[Micah, June 23rd, 4:58pm]: Anything for you bud! I'll be home with most of the aca-family in the next hour!_

* * *

"I come baring aunts and an uncle!" Micah called through the house.

"Which one of you do I need to reimburse for the rental car?" Beca said poking her head in.

"Bumper and I don't want it!" Fat Amy said. "Just give us our nieces."

"Taylor's bringing Emily and Parker, but I have Dani right here," Chloe said.

All the aunts got around Dani and hugged her. Kissing whatever they could on her face.

"Yeah, is this a normal thing?" Micah asked the three adults that weren't hugging the girl.

"Very much so," Chloe said coming behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and placing her chin on his shoulder.

"Mom," he said tensing up. "What I said in the text message was a real thing."

"I know, but I want to hold my boy right now, is that going to be a problem?" She asked kissing his cheek.

"No ma'am," he mumbled.

The doorbell rang and Aubrey walked in, "Aca-family!" She exclaimed.

"Aubrey!" They all disentangled themselves from Dani who then went to hug her Uncle Bumper.

"Hey," Taylor then said coming through the kitchen with Emily and Parker.

"Okay, before the love fest continues," Micah said, "let me get out of here."

"Hey," Emily and Aubrey said at the same time, "not until I get a hug."

Micah's eyes go wide and that's when Beca realizes that even if he's been in the family for a year, he's still not comfortable with physical contact yet. The music producer watched as her son hugged both women and then turned to Parker and said, "Call of Duty, upstairs now."

"Uncle Bumper you can join the testosterone upstairs if you'd like." Parker said.

"Sounds good," Bumper said going upstairs with the two boys.

* * *

"You good?" Beca asked Micah three hours later at dinner.

"Just as long as the love fest stays with the four of you." Micah said getting himself a bottle of root beer from the fridge.

"Yeah, the Bella's have a lot of love to give," Beca said. "I'll have them try to keep it down for you, okay?"

"Thank you," he said.

"You doing okay otherwise?" Beca asked. "This has to be triggering you a little."

"It is, but I'm in therapy remember?" He reminded his mama. "I'm talking with the therapist about it."

"Good," Beca said. "Can I hold you for a minute?"

He took a deep breath and said, "Of course Mama."

They sat on the kitchen table bench and Beca just held him in her arms for a moment before saying, "If you ever need me for _anything,_ you let me know, okay?"

"Yes Mama," Micah said. "I know."

"I love you bubba." Beca said.

"I love you too, Mama." He replied.

She kissed his cheek and then had them back outside with the aca-family.

* * *

"So lemme get this straight," Micah said, "Mom barged into Mama's shower to get her to be apart of the acapella group called the Bellas."

"Correct," Beca said.

"And it took you a year and a half to pull your head out of your ass to see that she fell in love with you and you her because...?"

"It was complicated." Chloe said for her wife. "She had to deal with a lot."

Beca took a sip of beer and said, "My parents didn't and still don't accept it."

"Is that why I've only ever met Mom's parents?" Micah asked.

Beca nodded, "Yeah, it is." She answered.

Micah noticed the change in his mama's body language, so he quickly changed the subject, "So how did you end up getting together?" He asked earning a mouthed thank you from Chloe.

Beca's face lit up and all the Bellas chuckled earning a glare from the music producer, "Your mom just straight up kissed your mama after a Bellas rehearsal." Stacie said.

"We had been taking bets since day one," Fat Amy said.

"Yeah," Aubrey said, "and your mom would come back to the apartment senior year and all she could talk about was your mama."

Micah looked at Chloe, "What can I say?" The redhead said, "I was in love with your mama the first time I laid eyes on her."

Chloe had her hand on Beca's thigh the entire time she was sitting down and Dani was currently tucked into her Aunt Bree because out of all of her aca-aunts, that's who she felt safe with.

"So you kissed Mama and then, what happened?" Micah said.

"I jokingly told your mom that she had to take me out on a date before she could kiss me." Beca said, "But then, I knew how she felt because I felt the exact same way, but I was with a guy at the time and didn't know how to break up with him without hurting him. But, I did and I saw the joy in your mom's eyes when I asked her to be my girlfriend."

"And when she proposed to me legitimately after graduation," Chloe said.

"Legitimately after graduation?" Micah asked.

"We threw our caps up into the air and when I went to find her to kiss her, she was surrounded by all the Bellas and was on one knee waiting for me." Chloe said.

"Oh boy." He said with a small smile.

"What about you and Chloe?" Stacie asked. "How'd you end up here?"

Micah scratched the back of his neck and looked across him at Dani, the situation was similar, but much more worse than the girl who was tucked into Aubrey's side, but didn't want to trigger her. "Go ahead." Dani said knowing the story. "Tell it. I'll be fine."

He then bit his lip and looked at his mothers who nodded their heads in agreement, his eyes then traveled to Taylor who smiled and nodded in encouragement.

He cleared his throat and sat up a little, "My dad died of cancer on my fourth birthday," he started making everybody except for Chloe gasp. "And my mom started getting drunk every night. Then she started doing drugs. One day, she had an overdose, and then CPS got involved and since there was no family to take me in, I got placed in foster care, so was my older sister."

"You have an older sister?" The rest of the Mitchell-Beale family asked at the same time, somewhat shocked by the news.

He nervously chuckled, "Yeah." He said. "Bailee. She was nine when we were placed in foster care. She's the first Forrester woman who went through West Point."

"Wait, Bailee Forrester?" Beca said, "Don't you write letters to her?"

He nodded, "She's deployed right now, but yes. She's happy to know that I'm adopted and safe and on track to get into West Point." He said.

"Dude," Fat Amy said, "let the boy finish his story."

"Sorry bubba." Beca said. "Proceed."

"Right, anyway, so for ten years, I was tossed to and fro like a property of the state of California. My mom didn't even make an attempt to want to be in my life until well after I was adopted. She was and still is heavily using drugs with men coming in and out of her life. But, how I ended up being a Mitchell-Beale?" He said looking at Stacie, "My mom here took an unspoken interest in me my freshman year. I'm partially on the drum line and I had to take like an intro to music class and she was my teacher."

He gestured for Chloe to come in because he didn't know exactly how, "I came home and talked about nothing, but him. Beca and the girls thought I loved him more than them. But one day, he started showing up late to class and he said that he kept oversleeping, but I didn't buy it. Especially since he wore a long-sleeved shirt under his uniform polo in the middle of April. Then I cornered him." The music teacher said, they were tag teaming now because she gave it back to Micah.

"The words, 'Mr. Forrester, can you hang back a minute? I'll give you a pass for your next class.' came out of her mouth and I started to panic. She's known to have a little bit of a bite around campus. Nobody wants to be on her bad side. And I honestly thought I did something wrong." Micah said.

"And I just wanted to see how he was doing," Chloe said. "He looked underfed too."

"She asked me, 'Are you okay?' and deep down I wanted to cry because I _knew_ I wasn't." Micah said.

"Then I kept bugging him and then one day he didn't show up to school for a week and I got worried." She said. "And I'm good friends with my boss and even she was worried. He was one of our only foster kids at the time."

"She showed up to the house where it was me and five other kids who are now in foster care because their parents were unfit." Micah said. "She got me into a group home until she talked my mama into letting me stay and as they got their fostering license."

"He was that missing puzzle piece that we didn't know we needed to complete this family," Beca said. "We've had our bumps along the way, but it's been worth it. I didn't know if we were capable of taking on another kid, especially one that it was clear needed a lot of Chloe's attention, but it's better than nothing."

"I worked with them through their adoption," Aubrey said. "And throughout the whole thing, you could tell that the love the four of them had for this boy was so great."

* * *

Micah was helping clean the kitchen with Chloe when he asked, "How are you doing Mom?"

She knew what he was talking about, they hadn't really talked about her meltdown in front of him, so she decided to be honest, "I'm having a hard time." She said. "Knowing your sister went through what she went through, but despite those awful circumstances, I'm doing okay."

"Thank you for saving me." He said. "I know it's you and Mama and the sisters, but I know you had to talk Mama down."

Chloe remembered the night that she brought it up to Beca and while it took her awhile to finally cave, the music teacher will never forget how the music producer never met the kid at that point and after hearing what he went through immediately agreed.

 _"You're home late." Beca said as she walked her wife walk in through the garage._

 _"Sorry we had a thing with a student." Chloe said._

 _"Is everything okay?" Beca asked._

 _"Yeah, I need to talk to you about something." The redhead said sitting down._

 _"What's up?" The brunette said beginning to rub Chloe's tense shoulders._

 _"You remember my student, Micah?" She asked._

 _"Of course I do, sometimes the girls and I think you love him more than you love us." The music producer said._

 _Chloe let her head hang. Had she really come off like that to her family?_

 _"Yeah well, I don't, well at least not yet." She said as Beca continued rubbing her shoulders._

 _"What do you mean?" Beca asked rubbing a particularly stubborn knot out of her wife's shoulder._

 _"His foster parents beat him up really bad, took advantage of him sexually, and then fled and he's been home taking care of his foster siblings all week." Chloe said._

 _"What - what WHY?" Beca asked._

 _"I don't know love." Chloe said. "Michele was asking if we take him in eventually."_

 _"We don't have room." Beca said._

 _"We don't even use the office upstairs. If you ever work at home you use your studio in the basement. C'mon baby, I've never seen the boy so broken." Chloe said giving her wife the look she know the music producer couldn't stand._

 _"What about Taylor and Dani? This boy is going to need a lot more attention." Beca countered._

 _"We can learn to balance." Chloe said. "C'mon, please?"_

 _Beca took a deep breath, "Let me meet him first, okay?" She said caving._

 _"Yaay!" Chloe said._

"I didn't really have to talk her down," Chloe said. "I just had to convince her to let you come."

"What are you two talking about?" Beca came in behind Chloe.

"How I convinced you to take this one in." Chloe said.

"One of the best decisions I've ever made." Beca said.

"Where are the aca-aunts?" Micah asked.

"Around the firepit outside with Dani, Parker, and Taylor, it's why I came in. To get you two." Beca said kissing her wife's shoulder.

"Uhh, I think I'll pass this time," Micah said. "You can go Mom. I'll finish up here."

"Are you okay?" Beca asked the boy. "Are you overwhelmed by the aca-family?"

"I'm fine, I just- I just need to be alone for a little while." He said.

"Okay," Chloe said knowing that he probably is overwhelmed.

Both moms kissed his cheeks and then went outside and he held onto the counter shakily holding his breath and he pulled out his phone from his pocket reading the text message that his birth mom sent him earlier.

 _[Sarah, June 23rd, 4:59pm]: Hi my little prince. Please call me when you get a moment away from that supposed family of yours. I need you._

His finger hovered over the call button when he heard, "Whatcha doing?"

He jumped and then looked over his shoulder to see Aubrey standing there. "Uh dishes," he said locking his phone and shoving it in his pocket. Aubrey raised a questioning eyebrow, "Seriously, just dishes. A friend sent a text."

"Uh huh." Aubrey said. "Look, I know you're still in contact with your birth mom without your moms knowing."

"Wha - wha - how?" He asked bemused.

"Because of how long you were staring at the text she sent you, your thumb hovering over the call button. I've learned you of the last 18 months, kiddo." She said. "Don't hurt your mothers. The ones that actually care about you. You even said tonight that she didn't make an attempt to come back into your life until well after your adoption. Do you know what's a slap in the face to the two women who for the past 18 months have done nothing, but love and support you? Doing whatever that text message says."

"You don't know me like you think you do." Micah said.

"I know you might as well be biologically related to Beca. That you'd do anything for the people you care about. News flash, she _doesn't_ care about you." Aubrey said. "And I'm not going to stand back and watch you hurt my two sisters, two of my best friends because you want to help your low-life of a mother."

Micah shoulders squared and his chest puffed out, "Say that again." He said. "I dare you. Say it again."

"And I'm _not_ going to stand back and watch you hurt my two sisters, two of my best friends because _you_ want to help your _low-life_ of a mother." Aubrey said poking at his chest every time she emphasized a point.

"What's going on in here?" Beca asked as she heard the commotion from outside.

"Just because she's on drugs doesn't make her a low-life." Micah said clenching his fist.

"She doesn't care about you because if she did she would've gotten better and fought for you and instead she let you get beaten, underfed, and taken advantage of. She doesn't care about you Micah Benjamin _Mitchell-Beale_. You're not a Forrester anymore. Your sister still maybe a Forrester, but you aren't. Pull your head out of your ass Micah!"

"Are you still talking to Sarah?" Chloe asked making Micah snap out of whatever daze.

He looked to see his mom behind his mama with concerned looks on their faces.

He took a deep breath and said softly, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Why are you still talking to her?" Beca asked hurt.

"I'm not going anywhere." He said coming up to Beca.

"Then why are you still talking to her?" Beca asked still hurt.

"Because you never told me that you didn't want me to." Micah said back.

"Of course I don't," Beca said hurt.

"See what you did?" Aubrey said. "You hurt the strongest person I know."

Micah went to his mama and took her into his arms and continually whispered 'I love you' in her ear.

* * *

The Mitchell-Beale family decided to have an impromptu sleepover in the master bedroom. The Bellas were sleeping throughout the house.

"Are we all going to fit?" Taylor asked.

"Yes," the moms said. "Dani in the middle though," Chloe said. "Taylor on my other side and Micah on Mama's other side. All night family snuggle session."

They got on the bed in the way Chloe told them to and Micah let himself curl into Beca. The music producer knew what the boy was doing and kissed his hairline three times.

"So tomorrow," Taylor said, "how bad do you think Aunt Bree is going to grill the guy?"

"Hard enough to get him to crack." Chloe said running fingers through Dani's hair.

"How are you doing princess?" Beca asked Dani.

"Okay, I guess." The girl said softly. "Nervous of seeing him again tomorrow."

"We'll go in as a family with a united front." Chloe said. "Mama and I will be sitting with you. Sissy and bubba will be behind us. And Aunt Bree will make sure you get justice."

"What's going through your head right now princess?" Beca asked kissing her forehead.

"I just keep thinking about that night." Dani said. "And I just really want it to get out of my head."

Beca kissed her daughter's head and left her lips lingering there making eye contact with Chloe. "We love you angel." Chloe said. "So damn much."

"I love you too," Dani said.

The family fell into a peaceful silence, until Taylor remembered something. When she was little her moms used to sing it to her to fall asleep. So she started singing, "I've got my ticket for the long way round," she made eye contact with her mama, who began singing the next line with her, "two bottle of whiskey for the way."

"And I'd sure like some sweet company and I'm leaving tomorrow what'd'ya say?" Chloe said.

Micah who surprised the family for knowing the song and for being able to sing, "When I'm gone, when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me by my walk, oh."

"You're going to miss me by my talk, oh." Taylor sang with eye contact with her brother.

"You're gonna miss me when I'm gone," the two mothers and oldest Mitchell-Beale kids sang together before looking down to see that Dani had fallen asleep during their singing.

"You know that song?" Chloe asked softly looking at Micah.

"You can sing?" Both Beca and Taylor asked.

"It's what you hummed to me after a nightmare and what Mama would sing around the house every once in awhile." Micah said looking over at Chloe. "And yeah, I also know how to play drums and the guitar. I have some musical talent." He added to his older sister and mama.

The four settled down, both Taylor and Micah turned off the bedroom nightstand lights and cuddled into the mom next to them. What none of them knew was the everyone of the Bellas were standing outside the door listening to the Mitchell-Beale's be a family with tears in each of their eyes.

Tomorrow they will get justice.

And Aubrey Posen would most definitely be damned if they don't.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** The whole thing with Micah's birth mom will be explored after the trial chapter. Also after that, the road to Dani's healing. It's going to be bumpy, rough, and unexplainably angsty.

Also, I am in the midst of the final phase of my three phase move. So don't know when the next chapter will be up.


	7. Come High or Hell Water

**A/N:** Thank you for the support.

So the trial piece of this may not be entirely accurate. So please don't shoot me down if it's not realistic.

This chapter is focused on both Dani and Micah. We're weaving in and out of both their storylines right now.

 **Trigger warning: mentions of rape and abortion. I won't go into full detail, but they are mentioned.**

* * *

 **Chapter Seven: Come Hell or High Water**

When Beca woke up, she noticed that Micah wasn't curled into her back anymore. Her wife and daughters were still sleeping and when she looked around she found her son sitting on the balcony with a cup of coffee looking at the sunrise.

Beca went downstairs, poured four cups of coffee knowing that it's what her girls would want upon waking up. Walked back upstairs, placed the three cups down. And then went outside to watch the sunrise with her boy.

"Whatcha thinking about bubba?" Beca asked after a few moments.

"I wish she didn't know what it's like." He said not taking his eyes off the sunrise.

"I know, me too." Beca said. "And I don't even know what she's going through. How do you cope?"

"I cuddle into you or Mom." He said honestly.

"Awh and here I thought you cuddle into us because you want to." The music producer joked.

"Well I do, but 99.99% of the time, I do it because I need to be reminded that I'm not there anymore. And as weird as it sounds the smell of you two brings me back."

"Mom cuddles with you every morning before you get out of bed." Beca mentioned.

"Because she asked me what would get me through the heart of my trauma and I told her if she held me that would remind me why I get up every day." Micah said. "You four help remind why I get up every day."

"And why's that?" Beca said wrapping a rather protective arm around her son.

"I know that I said I thought the only reason why you agreed to allow me stay here was to make Mom happy. But, I realized how happy I make you and the sisters too." He put his head on her shoulder. "And I realized that I needed to get up every day to make you proud."

"You don't have to make us proud bubba." Beca said. "You don't have to be strong all the time."

"Pot meet kettle." Chloe said coming outside with her coffee.

"Morning beautiful," Beca said as Chloe bent down and gave her a chaste kiss.

"Morning my love," she whisper against her lips giving her another kiss. "Morning bub." She then said to her son.

"Morning Ma." He said.

"What are you two talking about?" Chloe asked sitting on the other side of Beca.

"About what's going through his head," Beca said.

"Is everything okay bubba?" Chloe asked.

"Everything's fine." Micah said. "Don't worry about me."

Chloe moved to the other side of her son and kissed his forehead, "Bubba," she whispered.

He shoots up and looks beyond the backyard and since the Mitchell-Beale house was on a hill overlooking Los Angeles, he stared for several minutes, and then he finally said, "I know it's not what you want to hear, but I called Sarah this morning."

"Why?" Beca asked softly.

"I wanted to know what she wanted." He answered.

Chloe stood up and held in from behind, he tensed, and didn't relax. "Love," Chloe said.

"What did she want?" Beca asked softly.

"She's getting clean and wants to know if I'll support her through that." Micah said still tense.

"Relax," Chloe whispered in his ear.

"And what did you say?" Beca asked.

"Of course she has my support!" He said tensing more. "I'm not going to throw that at my sister once she gets back from Afghanistan, you're joking right?"

"Relax," Chloe whispered into his ear again.

"I don't want you near that woman." Beca said.

"She can't take me away from you." Micah said.

"What's going on with the arguing?" Dani asked coming out with coffee and rubbing her eyes with her free hand.

Beca pulled the girl into her lap and kissed her cheek, "Yeah, I agree." Taylor said coming out with coffee. "And why is bubba tense?"

"Please just be careful," Beca then said knowing that he'll see the woman whether she wanted him to or not. "I don't want you to get hurt."

Micah managed to get out of Chloe's embrace and started to go back into the house, but then he stopped and turned to Beca, "I get it, you're nervous that if I were to spend too much time with her, I'll eventually want to live with her again, but that's not even close to what's going to happen. I don't want to be her son anymore, I just want her to know that there are people who are rooting for her. People who still _care_. That's why I'm still in her life."

He left three stunned Mitchell-Beale women stunned on the balcony as he slammed the master bedroom door behind him.

* * *

"You nervous?" Aubrey asked Dani as they walked into the courthouse a few hours later. Dani nodded and Aubrey slipped her hand into the girl's and squeezed it in comfort. "I believe in you, monkey and I love you so so much."

"I love you too, Aunt Bree." She said.

"So how about we go do this thing?" Aubrey said making Dani nod.

Behind them was her family and the Bellas, Chloe held tightly onto Beca's hand and Beca murmured to her, "It's okay. We'll get through this day."

Micah was standing on the other side of Chloe messing with his tie, "Bubba," Chloe said softly.

"I'm fine," he somewhat snapped.

"Hey," Beca said softly yet harshly. "Don't talk to your mother like that."

"Sorry," he mumbled before kissing Chloe's cheek.

Chloe grabbed his hand with her free one, "I love you," she said into his ear.

"Love you too," he said.

Beca then looked over at Taylor whose face was pale, "You alright baby girl?" The music producer asked.

"I'm as alright as I'll ever be." The high school graduate answered.

Beca then took her free hand and gripped her daughter's and just as she did that Dani looked at them, the four of them giving her a supportive smile. But, the scared look on her face told both moms that Adam Brasfield was there.

And when they saw Aubrey's hand tighten around the girl's hand, they knew he was.

The four Mitchell-Beale's looked to their left and the Brasfield family was standing there with their lawyer and just by looking at them, they knew they were in for a long morning.

* * *

"Can you tell the court what happened?" Aubrey asked Dani who was sitting there.

Dani started to shake and she made eye contact with Micah, who had been helping her through this, he nodded his head and mouthed, breathe.

The girl took a deep breath and then said, "Eastwind Academy makes their high school students do a project every year. To prepare us for the real world of working with people in a way. You have the same person for all four years and essentially you improve on your project until you graduate. I'm in my freshman year and I was placed with Claire Brasfield," she made eye contact with the girl and the look on Claire's face tells her that this has happened with her brother before and that everybody in the Brasfield family knows it. "I figured it was cool, we've known each other since we both started at Eastwind in preschool, but we never made an attempt to talk. And we got to know each other." Dani smiled at the girl.

She then took another deep breath, "A few months ago, we were behind on the project because it kept crashing on us, we were trying to code this app that would prevent bullying on campus, so we decided to get ahead and just finish what needed to be done before our sophomore year. By the time we did it was almost three in the morning and instead of calling my moms to come pick me up, Mrs. Brasfield just told me to crash on the pull out couch. I would've been too tired to even be awake when one of my moms came and picked me up anyway. I'm a really light sleeper no matter how tired I am and around four-thirty, I felt the bed dip and a hand over my mouth. My eyes shot open and I saw Adam there and I didn't make a sound, but I felt everything that he did."

She took another deep breath and looked over at her family, who were smiling supportively, "And I got pregnant and while I terminated the pregnancy, it still happened."

Dani couldn't continue and Aubrey could see that and she said, "So he ra- he took advantage of you sexually?" Client or goddaughter, she couldn't get those words out when they were directed to Danielle Elise Mitchell-Beale, the daughter of Beca and Chloe Mitchell-Beale.

"Yes." She said.

"That's all I have," Aubrey said not being able to continue.

The Brasfield's lawyer got up and then said, "Dani, right? May I call you that?"

"Yes sir." She said.

"You say my client took advantage of you sexually and you got pregnant, had you been sexually active before this time?" He asked.

"No sir." She answered.

"And what happened with my client wasn't consensual?" The lawyer asked.

"No sir, I didn't even know who he was until several hours later." She said. "And virgin or not, I wouldn't have sex with somebody who I didn't know. That's just not who I am."

"And your abortion," he said making the girl wince. She couldn't say or hear things like rape or abortion at that moment, "when are where did that take place?"

"About a month ago, Planned Parenthood." She answered.

"And how did you pay for the procedure?" The lawyer asked. "Certainly a little girl of your age couldn't afford it."

Aubrey wanted to object, but couldn't even focus on doing so, what did that have to do with the case?

Dani then made eye contact with Isaiah in the back of the courtroom, she had invited him because despite everything what happened, he made sure she was okay. He helped her through it all. He was there even when she didn't want him to be. In a way, he was the male version of what her mom was to her mama.

"I had help from a friend." She answered still looking at him. "A friend that come hell or high water will make sure that I am okay under any circumstances."

Beca and Chloe looked over their shoulders to see the boy, smiled that he was there. Smiled that he still supported their princess and angel even when she didn't want it.

Isaiah then smiled at what she said, they may not be together anymore, but he still wanted to be her best friend. They started out that way, why couldn't they end up that way?

The lawyer sighed, "That is all." He said before sitting down.

* * *

It was a long morning and by the end of it, Dani was curled into Beca begging for some sense of comfort. Chloe was the physical comforter normally, but today, Dani needed her mama.

And when the verdict was read, the verdict that Adam Brasfield was found guilty of statutory rape. Dani let herself silently cry into her mama's chest. She was relieved and so was everybody else there to support her.

Beca tightened her arms around the girl and kissed her head and left her lips there in a way of saying, 'I love you princess and I'm so proud of you.'

When they walked out of the courthouse, Isaiah was waiting for them, "Hey Zay." Dani said hugging him, "Thanks for coming."

"I wouldn't miss it." He said. "You did a good job up there dude."

"Thank you," Dani said.

"Hey, we'll give you two a minute," Beca said, "but come over today." She added to Isaiah.

"Of course." He said.

As the couple walked off, Claire walked up, and she said, "I just want to say that I'm sorry for - for my brother."

"It's not your fault Claire." She said.

"Well I won't blame you for asking for a new partner." Claire said. "I don't want to trigger you in anyway."

"I'm not going to ask for a new partner." She said offering a small smile. "Sorry Brasfield, you're stuck with me. Just maybe we could meet at my house instead from now on?"

Claire smiled back, nodded, and then asked, "May I give you a hug?"

"Of course," Dani said opening her arms. In the hug she said, "You don't trigger me. It's just your brother and your house. When I think of you, I don't think of your brother."

"Half brother." The other girl corrected. "It's why we look nothing alike. He looks more like his mom."

"Oh, that makes sense." Both Dani and Isaiah said.

"So, you want to meet right before school starts to see why the app is still crashing?" Claire asked coming out of the hug.

"I'll text you." Dani said.

"Sounds good," Claire said. "See you around, Mitchell-Beale."

As she walked off, Isaiah said, "You're brave."

"What do you mean?" Dani asked.

"If that were me, I would be in Headmaster Daniels office immediately changing partners." Isaiah said.

"It's not like she told Adam to do it." Dani said. "And she looks unbearably guilty."

"Come on dude, I see the aca-family is in town, and that means good food at the Mitchell-Beale house." Isaiah said.

"Yeah and my my mama is actually barbecuing, so it should be good." She said.

"Dude, I love Beca's barbecue." Isaiah said as they joined the rest of the Mitchell-Beale family and the aca-family.

* * *

Micah was lying on his bed with his arm over his face when Chloe came in looking for him, "Bubba?" She called. He was actually crying, so he didn't answer back. When Chloe opened his bedroom door, she sighed. "Micah," she said softly. After a few seconds, he felt the bed dip, and his mom adjusting so she could hold him. "What's wrong baby boy?" She asked softly.

After several minutes of crying into Chloe's chest, he said, "Mama must hate me."

"Why would you think that?" Chloe asked.

"Because I'm still talking to Sarah." He said.

"She doesn't hate you love," Chloe said running her hands down his back, soothing the boy.

"I know I'm pretty fucked up for wanting to still be in my birth mom's life." He said.

"Does she not have family to support her through this?" She asked.

"No," the boy said resting his chin on his mother's chest. "They all disowned her when she married my dad." Chloe raised a questioning eyebrow, "She comes from a wealthy family and he came from a working class family, they thought he was after their money."

"Oh," Chloe said having it make sense now.

"Yeah," he said. "So Bailee and I are the only ones she has. We agreed, that even though she made us go through hell and even though I'm adopted now that come hell or high water we'd make sure she's okay." He didn't realize that he had repeated some of what Dani had said in the courthouse today, but by Chloe's supportive hum, he knew she understood.

"I understand where you're coming from now." Chloe said, "However, it would make Mama and I both better if you let us be there for you while you be there for her."

"I never said you couldn't." He said.

"Okay," Chloe said as Beca walked into the room.

"Hey you two, you're missing all the fun out back." Beca said.

Even though, he thought better of it, he curled more into Chloe making Beca wonder what she had just walked into.

"We're having a moment and then we'll be out." Chloe said.

"Okay," Beca said kissing Chloe and then tried to kiss the boy's forehead, but he buried his face into Chloe's chest. Beca's eyebrows raised in concern and Chloe mouthed, 'We'll talk later' and Beca left the room.

"You can't be scared of Mama again." Chloe said. "She just wants to help you. She's not going to hurt you."

Micah just buried his face into Chloe's chest and for the first time since the words, 'we want to adopt you' came out of _Beca's_ mouth, he didn't feel safe.

* * *

"Where's Chloe?" Aubrey asked.

"And Micah?" Emily added.

"They're having a moment." Beca said, still a little hurt that Micah didn't let her to kiss his forehead.

"You okay?" Emily asked when everybody was focused on other things.

"No," she admitted on the verge of crying.

Emily took her business partner down into the in home studio when she asked, "What's wrong? It's not about Dani is it?"

"No, it's about Micah." Beca answered.

"Is he okay?" Emily asked.

"Uh, he's been talking to his birth mom." Beca answered. She then visibly swallowed. "And I can't help, but feel replaced. I know Chloe doesn't feel this way, but we've been dealing with it for the last month."

"Oh?" Emily said.

"He - he didn't think that I loved him," Beca let out a sob falling into the younger woman's arms.

"Oh," Emily said. "I got you. I got you."

"I just don't understand why we aren't enough," Beca let out another sob. "Why _I'm_ not enough."

"You _are_ enough," Emily said. "I know you love him as much as the girls. I know you Bec. He spent 10 years in the foster care system where finding people who legitimately care about him don't exist." Emily ran her hands down Beca's back in attempt to sooth her, she's seen Chloe do it on a handful of occasions. Sure, Emily knew that she wasn't Chloe, but right now, somebody that has grown to be her best friend was having a breakdown, and she isn't going to just sit by and watch. "You can't just expect him to be okay with it."

"It's been 18 months," Beca said trying to justify how she was feeling.

"I know, but sometimes it's overwhelming. For the first nine months, this was only a temporary situation for him. He always was looking over his shoulder, he still fears that you will give up on him and convince Chloe to send him away." Beca looked up at Emily with furrowed eyebrows. "I know you'd never do that, but imagine what _he_ feels. Because of your and Chloe's brothers, you're all biologically related to each other in some way. And while sure, DNA doesn't make a family, I'm sure he feels like he can't connect with you, the girls, and even Chloe in some matter because of that. That you and Chloe can very well say, _'you're not our son'_ or the girls could very well say, _'you're not our brother.'_ Imagine that fear. While you may not feel like you're enough for him, I can guarantee you that he doesn't feel like he's enough for this family."

They sat there for a moment, letting what Emily say sink in before getting up and joining the rest of the aca-family outside.

* * *

It wasn't until that night when Beca found Micah alone that she found the courage to talk to him, "Hey bubba." She said as he was sitting outside with his feet in the pool.

"Dani's inside if you're looking for her." He said.

"Yeah I know," Beca said looking over her shoulder through the big window to see her youngest cuddled into her wife. "I was looking for you."

"What's up?" He asked.

"I have a tough question for you and yes, I do need you to answer it honestly." Beca said sitting next to him putting her feet in the pool with him.

"Okay," he said.

"Do you feel like you're not enough for me, Mom, and the sisters?" She asked.

Not making eye contact during tough conversations was sort of their thing. The only people who made them make eye contact during tough conversations with Chloe, Taylor, and Dani.

Micah took a deep breath before saying, "Yes. Sometimes it feels like I'm not enough for this family."

"Because we're all biologically related?" Beca asked.

"You're all biologically related? Like how?" Micah asked. "Last time I checked you can't get Mom pregnant and you can't get her pregnant?"

"We have brothers." She said. "They donated the piece that one of us is missing."

"That's not weird or anything." Micah said.

"Yeah, you'll have to meet them some time." She said.

"Your brother still talks to you?" He asked carefully remembering the conversation from the previous night.

"He does," Beca said. "He just wants me to be happy."

"Oh, right." Micah said.

"So, about my question..."

Micah looked at the water, trying to form the words in his head, and when he did, the words hit Beca in the stomach, in a way she never thought possible.

"Some days I wake up and think all of this is some weird, chaotic dream." He said. "I've been listening to the music you've been producing for _years_. In really bad foster homes, it helped me sleep at night."

"Really?" Beca asked surprised. The boy was never open about these things.

He nodded, "Yeah, really." He replied with a smile. "When I got here, you four were an established family with inside jokes that I didn't understand and a journey that I didn't get to walk with all of you. I felt like I was a burden, an interruption of sorts." Beca was about to say that he wasn't when he beat her to it, "And I know I'm not, but it _feels_ that way sometimes."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Beca asked.

"What could you have done?" The boy asked honestly.

"I'm not sure, but I never want you to feel that way bubba." Beca said wrapping an arm around him.

"I just wish that I could feel apart of this family." He said. "Sometimes I do and other times, it's like why did I agree to being adopted? I was so close to emancipation and while every day I thank Mom for saving me, I just can't help, but think that maybe I am an intrusion."

"No," Beca said firmly. "No, you're not."

"You're not just saying that?" Micah couldn't help the insecurities coming through. It had been on his mind a lot over the last few months.

The music producer put three soft kisses on the boy's forehead, "No, I'm not just saying that." She said. "I love you and if I have to remind you of that every single day for the rest of my life, I will."

"I'm sorry that I didn't have the most easiest past." Micah said resting his head on Beca's shoulder.

"We all have a story that makes us who we are." Beca said. "I'm sorry you had to go through everything you did before landing with us. I would've had your mom save you all over again if it meant that I got to be right here with you in my arms."

A few minutes of silence fell over them before Micah asked, "You really don't think Sarah will take me back do you?"

Beca took a deep breath, "I'm more afraid that you'll want to be with her over us." She admitted.

"My mom left me. Right after my dad died. She left and she didn't come back. You, Mom, Taylor, Dani, you come back to me. So no, I don't want to be with you over her." He said. "But, while she was a horrible parent, I still want to help her. I love you. I love this family even if I don't feel like I fit in most days, but I still love her too."

Beca's eyes watered, she knew if she was in the boy's position, she would've just disowned her mother in a heartbeat. Maybe that's because in actual reality her mom, dad, and stepmom disowned her for falling in love with Chloe, but she saw his heart and she wanted to honor that.

She cleared her throat and said, "I'll have to run this by Mom, but until Bailee comes back from her tour, I want us to be involved. And then when it's you and Bailee, we'll be involved less. Does that sound fair?"

"Yes ma'am," he said.

"I love you bubba." She said kissing his head again.

"I love you too, Mama." He said.

* * *

Watching Dani sleep had become a habit of Chloe's, ever since the initial breakdown on prom night, Chloe found herself every night leaning against her doorframe watching the girl sleep. That was no different the night after getting justice. All the Bellas were spread out amongst their house, Emily's condo, and Aubrey's apartment.

The ones staying with them were Stacie, Fat Amy, and Bumper. Micah and Taylor had given up their rooms to their aunts and uncle and because Taylor was leaving for Harvard in a few weeks she opted to sleep with her moms until the aca-family left and Micah was sleeping on the couch downstairs because he was already playing video games with Parker and some of Parker's friends.

Chloe felt Beca come from behind her and wrap strong arms around her waist and place her chin on her right shoulder.

"I can't believe it," Chloe whispered. "This is the best sleep she's gotten in months."

"Yeah," Beca whispered back. "She got her justice."

"I can't believe our baby had to go through that," Chloe said thinking back to the trial.

"Me either," Beca whispered. "She's brave though. She's not going to ask Headmaster Daniels to change partners."

"Claire will be over here a lot more though, no way she wants to go back there, and even if she did, I don't know if I'd feel comfortable with her going back there." Chloe said.

Beca kissed her wife's neck softly, "I love you." She said.

"I love you too." Chloe said. "So much."

A few minutes of silence fell upon the couple as their watched their sleeping child before Chloe let out a low chuckle, "What?" Beca asked.

"We could've been grandparents." Chloe said to watch her wife's face cringe.

"Don't say that." Beca said. "Don't ever say that."

Chloe chuckled and kissed her wife's cheek and they spent another twenty minutes just staring at the girl sleeping.

* * *

"Sooo," Chloe said as she, Beca, and Parker sat in Beca's at home studio, "what's up sweetheart?"

"Okay, I need to ask you both a question, but I need you to let me get it all out because well there's a lot I have to say." He said. Picking up both of his parents nervous habits of shaking and rambling.

"Kid," Beca said putting a gentle hand on the boy's shaking knee, "it's just us. It's just Aunt Chloe and Aunt Beca. No need to be nervous."

He took a deep breath before blurting out, "I want to marry your daughter." He sighed running a hand through hair, this isn't how he wanted to ask them, but no turning back now, "But, not right away. I want us to get through at least undergrad first. And sure a long engagement isn't necessarily a cool thing to do these days, but I want to ask her to marry me, but I _will not_ do it without both of your permission. I know you're Aunt Chloe and Aunt Beca and that won't change, to a degree. In the days where my mom was struggling with everything, you two stepped in, and you became what my mom often referred to as our flashlight. And Taylor has been mine since the day I asked her to be my girlfriend under that tree in eighth grade. She helped me understand that I might want a relationship with my dad that it wouldn't hurt my mom if I did. I want her to be my wife. And all I can say right now is, Aunt Chloe, Aunt Beca, will you have me as a son-in-law?" He took a short breath, "God, that sounds a little creepy."

Both Beca and Chloe looked at each other, had a conversation with their eyes, Beca nodded lightly, and they both got up and sat next to him.

"Okay firstly," Beca said, "I'm going to need you to breathe kid. Take a deep breath for me." The boy did as his aunt told him to. "And secondly, of course we'd have you as a son-in-law, no matter how creepy it sounds."

"You make our baby girl the happiest." Chloe said. "We'd still like to be Aunt Beca and Aunt Chloe though."

"Of course," he said. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

They both hugged him and placed a soft kiss on his temple, "So, do you have the ring already?" Chloe asked.

He pulled it out of his back pocket, "Damn," Beca said, "what if we had said no?"

Parker, who had regained some confidence, asked, "Would you have said no?"

The couple chuckled, "Of course not honey." Chloe said. "We can't wait to gain another son."

* * *

Dani didn't know how to feel, currently she was in Aubrey's arms, half asleep, as they were all watching Micah and Parker try to teach Beca and Emily how to throw a football.

"How are you doing monkey?" Aubrey whispered into Dani's ear.

"I'm okay to the point where I wish people would stop asking me that every five minutes," the half asleep girl mumbled.

"I'm sure you are, love." Aubrey said. "We just care."

"I know Aunt Bree." Dani said. "I'm just tired all the time. My body is trying to get used to this stupid new medication."

Aubrey kissed her head, "You know I was on medication when I first came out to LA before your moms got here."

"Really?" Dani asked. She never heard this story before.

"Yeah, I had just gotten out of a really bad relationship and needed to get out of Georgia. And I realized that something big was wrong." Aubrey said running fingers through her goddaughter's hair. "And I knew I needed to do something about it."

"So what did you do?" Dani asked, still listening to her godmother, while watching the two boys fail at the attempt to teach their respective mother how to throw a football.

"I went to therapy, got on medication, and by that time, your moms had come to LA, and I was honest with how I was feeling every single time they asked." Aubrey said. "I know talking to you moms right now is a little scary and that they're a little protective."

Dani chuckled, "A little?" She said.

" _Okay,_ a lot protective, but that's only because they love you and want the best for you." Aubrey said through a chuckle. The lawyer saw how protective her two best friends were of the soccer player in her arms. She then looked up and chuckled again because both Beca and Micah were wrestling on the grass and both Emily and Parker just looked amused like the rest of the people in the backyard. "They're always going to be protective of you now. So is Taylor. So is Micah."

"I know," Dani said oblivious to her mama and brother wrestling on the grass. "They all are. So are Aunt Emily and Parker. And you."

"We don't want to imagine what you're going through." The lawyer said kissing the top of Dani's head. "Never."

"Micah knows what I'm going through to some extent." Dani said. "Sometimes when Moms can't get me to calm down, he manages to do so."

"I know," Aubrey said, "he's shared some of his experiences with me."

"You two don't seem to get along," Dani mentioned.

"I think I intimidate him a little." Aubrey said.

"You know he loves you though right?" Dani asked.

"I do know this." She said. "I love him too. Even if he's not my godson."

"You're right though," Dani said getting back to their original conversation, "about everything."

"I know you'll never be that same Dani that was placed in my arms at the hospital or that same monkey who never wanted to leave my side when you were younger. But, I'll do anything to help you through whatever you need."

"Sometimes I may need somebody other than a person in my immediate family and therapist to talk to.." Dani said hoping her aunt caught her drift.

"You bet." Aubrey said kissing her forehead.

And then Dani looked over to see her mama and brother wrestling on the grass, "My mom hasn't tried to stop this yet?" She asked looking over to Chloe who was actually videoing the entire ordeal.

"It's pretty entertaining," Aubrey said as Micah let Beca pin him down to the ground before wrestling some more.

"I love my family," Dani said.

"Yeah?" Aubrey said knowingly.

"Yeah. Come hell or high water, they'll always be here for me." Dani said. "And entertain me." She added when Beca managed to pick up a boy that was seven inches taller than her, have Emily take out his phone and wallet from his shorts, and throw him in the pool.

When the boy came above water, he said, "What the hell? Where did you get that strength from?"

"Yeah, I work out." Beca said making everybody laugh.

* * *

 **End of chapter a/n:** Longest chapter I've ever written so far! Tried to make it light and fluffy towards the end, but wanted to set up a couple of things for the chapters ahead!

Update on my current status: We're moved into the house Friday! Cool, right? However renovations are still being done and currently have to vacate the house more, so I finished writing this in a Starbucks, and don't know how much I can do that. So expect updates once a week, but I apologize in advance if I don't follow through on that.

But, next up: A Parker/Taylor engagement, the moms with Micah trying to sort through the Sarah debacle, and Dani's road to healing.

See ya later!


	8. The One About The Girl & The Boy

**A/N:** Thank you for the support!

We're also kind of diving into Taylor, Micah, and Dani's POV's in this chapter outside of Bechloe. Don't worry though, not too heavy.

* * *

 **Chapter Eight: The One About The Girl & The Boy**

It had been a few weeks after the trial, all the Bellas had gone back to their respective home. The Mitchell-Beale family had fallen back into a routine.

"I freaking _hate_ therapy." Dani mumbled on her way out a session.

"I know babe." Chloe said wrapping a loose arm around the girl feeling her tense. "How'd it go?"

Dani wanted to say that it was _fine,_ that nothing out of the ordinary happened, and then she remembered her godmother's words the afternoon after the trial, and ended up admitting, "It was - _hard._ "

"Yeah?" Chloe asked, hoping for to encourage her to continue.

"Sometimes I wonder if this is all worth it," She said.

"If what's all worth it?" Chloe asked hoping not to hear what she thinks is going to hear.

"Life," Dani said. Yeah, that's _exactly_ what Chloe _didn't_ want to hear.

"Uhm," Chloe stopped them.

"Yes, I did tell my therapist this," Dani said almost like reading her mother's mind. "She told me that if I didn't tell you, she would."

"You do know I _have_ to tell Mama and because of this she's not going to want you to leave her side, right?" Chloe said.

"I know," Dani said. "And as much as I hate an overprotective mama, I kinda don't want to leave either one of your sides right now, I need you."

Chloe then embraced the still tense girl tightly in her arms and kissed her head, "You have us love. You have us."

Dani reluctantly let herself sink into her mom's embrace, "Can we go see Mama?" The girl asked softly.

"Of course," Chloe said. "She will want to see you."

The two got in the car and were just out of the parking lot when the bluetooth speakers rang, "Hey bubba." Chloe said answering it seeing that it was Micah.

 _"Hey," he said. "Uh, like I just want you to know that I have to go to campus today. Picking up my football gear for the fall and talk to Guidance Counselor Carlson about my senior project. Then I have therapy right after."_

"Okay, you could've just sent me a text." Chloe said.

 _"I know, but I just got in the car and I'm running late. Coach said he wanted to talk to me about something."_

"Breathe baby boy," Chloe said.

 _He took a deep breath, "I hate senior year already," he muttered._

"I know honey," Chloe said. "Dani and I are driving to see Mama, so just text me when you're done with therapy, okay?"

 _"Okay," he said. "I love you."_

"I love you too." Chloe said. "And remember to breathe. Principal Brown doesn't want another student fainting during their senior year because that's how stressed out they are."

 _"I know, I know. She gave me that lecture yesterday." He said frustrated. "Senior year hasn't even started yet and somehow I'm already fucking stressed."_

"Deep breath for me baby," he said.

 _"Yeah, remind me of that when I officially start school, okay?" He said through a chuckle._

"You know I will," she said. "Drive safely. Text me when you're about to leave campus, okay?"

 _"Yes, bye Mom." He said. "Hi and bye Dani. Love you bud!"_

"Hi, bye, and love you too bubba." The girl, who had her head rested against the window said. The boy hung up and Dani asked, "For it being the poorest school in Los Angeles County, how bad is senior year?"

" _Really_ bad." Chloe answered. "Like you know how at Eastwind you have a four-year long project?"

"Yeah?" Dani said.

"He has three big projects his senior year: one individual, one partner, and one group project." Chloe said merging onto the freeway to go to go to Beca's studio.

"Why?" Dani said.

"Not sure angel," Chloe said placing a hand on her knee. The redhead didn't miss the girl flinching under her touch. Chloe bit her lip and took her hand away, luckily they weren't too far from Beca's studio and were there in about eight minutes.

Dani had been pulling away from Chloe since the trial. When she had a nightmare, she asked for Beca to comfort her or Micah when Beca was working in the studio. The music teacher tried not to be offended or hurt by it, but she didn't know what she did wrong.

When they pulled into the parking lot of Beca's studio and got out, they were met by Emily who was talking to the front desk receptionist about something and when the receptionist made eye contact with them she said, "Hi Chloe, Dani."

Emily turned around, "Oh hi!" The music producer said. "You hear to see Beca?" Dani nodded. "She's actually in her office right now. Maybe you can get her to relax?" She said looking at Chloe.

"Does she need a back rub?" Chloe asked knowing how tense her wife got.

Emily nodded, "Among other things," the younger music producer said.

"Woah," Dani muttered. Sex was still a hard subject for her to talk about.

Emily winced realizing what she had done, "I'm sorry honey," she then quickly apologized.

"It's okay," Dani said. "Can I see Mama now?"

"Sure angel," Chloe said. "I'll meet you up there, okay?"

She nodded and went up to see Beca and Chloe took a deep breath, "You okay?" Emily asked.

Chloe looked at Emily, this was the girl that they helped raise her son. This was the girl who curled into her arms when things got rough playing the divorced couple role with Benji. This was also the girl who, in the heat of the moment, she wanted to crawl under a rock and die after that riff off with Das Sound Machine. The awkward girl that came to the Bella house to audition even when the Bellas weren't supposed to take her in. This was Emily Junk, her sister for life, and one who outside of Beca and Aubrey, could read her like a book.

"No," Chloe admitted with tears in her eyes. "I'm so lost and confused right now."

Emily pulled her into the nearest storage room, sure not the most ideal place, but it was the only place where they could get at least some privacy.

"What's going on?" Emily asked.

"Dani won't let me comfort her in anyway." Chloe said. "She lets Beca and Micah do so, but not me. Not anymore. I don't know what I did wrong."

"I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong," Emily said. "In her eyes, Beca is her protector and Micah knows what she's going through to some extent. You didn't do anything wrong."

Chloe leaned into Emily's shoulder and let out a sob and the younger music producer found herself for the second time in a few weeks comforting one of her Bella sisters.

* * *

When Chloe and Emily made their way up to the offices of the studio, the redhead poked her head into Beca's office and saw that her wife was holding her youngest daughter in her lap, Beca's face was buried into the girl's neck. It was probably the cutest thing Chloe had ever seen.

"Hey loves," Chloe said softly.

Beca looked up to her wife and saw the tears in her eyes and asked, "Is everything okay beautiful?"

She nodded, "Yeah, it is now." The redhead said in a voice that meant that they'll talk about it later. "Is everything okay in here?"

"She told me what she told you and the therapist," Beca said. "And I just wanted to hold her."

Chloe nodded and felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, it was a text from Micah:

 _[Micah, July 14th, 2:04pm]: Remind me that I actually want to graduate._

Chloe smiled and responded back to her son:

 _[Mom, July 14th, 2:05pm]: You'll be fine bubba. Did you get paired with someone bad?_

 _[Micah, July 14th, 2:06pm]: Haven't met my partner yet. I just already can tell that can't handle the people in my group._

 _[Mom, July 14th, 2:07pm]: You want to graduate bubba. Mama and I want you to graduate. You NEED to graduate._

 _[Micah, July 14th, 2:07pm]: Thanks Mom. I love you._

Chloe smiled at the text message, she loved it when he told anybody in the family that he loved them. He had come a long way from that boy who she brought home his sophomore year.

 _[Mom, July 14th, 2:09pm]: I love you too, bubba! So much!_

"Who are you texting over there?" Beca asked her wife.

"Micah," she said. "He's having a hard time with his group already. He needed a reminder that we actually want him to graduate."

"Yes," Beca said, "yes we do!"

Chloe sat in front of Beca's desk and saw that Dani was pretty much asleep in Beca's lap, "How do you get her to fall asleep in your arms?"

"She likes it when I hold her," Beca said. "I don't do anything out of the ordinary, just rub her arms."

When the girl fell asleep, Beca moved her to the couch and threw a light blanket on her, kissing her forehead, before turning back to her wife.

"So what's got you down my love?" Beca asked sitting in Chloe's lap.

"She won't let me comfort her," Chloe said looking over at their daughter. "And every time I touch her, she tenses. I don't know what I did."

Beca stood up and then grabbed her wife's hands before going to the couch right across the one Dani was on, she pulled the two of them down and held her wife. They both were staring at Dani.

"She loves you." Beca said making Chloe laugh. "Really she does."

"I know I'm sounding selfish right now." Chloe said.

"Nothing is selfish for wanting to take care of your child." Beca said running comforting hands down Chloe's arm. "Nothing. You're a _good_ mom. It's evident in the way that you just took care of Micah right now. Dani will come around, we just have to weigh it all out."

Chloe kissed her wife softly on the lips and they began a small make out session before the redhead pulled back, "I love you. Thank you for always knowing what to say."

"I love you too." Beca said kissing her wife's forehead.

The two watched the girl sleep and saw how peaceful she was and Chloe cuddled into Beca, strong, protective arms wrapped around her, she realized that she was home.

* * *

Taylor and Parker were walking down the beach talking about their futures. Parker was about to propose, he knew that it wasn't Taylor's thing to have it done in front of both families, all the moms knew when he was going to do it and they were going to throw them a goodbye party in a couple of days and then they'd celebrate their engagement.

"So have you decided on a major yet?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah, Communications and Journalism. That way no matter where you want to go for pre-med and med school, I can get a job." He said.

"Yeah," Taylor said with a smile. "I love you Park."

"I love you too, Tay." He said back before they sat down to watch the sunset. "I'm going to miss this. Watching the sunset with you at Newport Beach."

"Me too," she said.

"You've always been there for me." He said starting out his proposal. "Never once walked away. You encourage me to reach my full potential and you make me want to become a better man. You helped me realize that a relationship with my father was a good thing. You debate me to be logical. And I want to spend every single day of my life making you mine." He shifted to one knee and pulled the ring out of his back pocket, "Taylor Lee Mitchell-Beale, will you do me the honor of marrying me and being my wife?"

Taylor's eyes were full of tears as she got out, "Yes, of course."

He slipped the ring on her finger and she threw herself in his arms, kissing him. They would wait until after undergrad to get married, but going off to Harvard and Brown being able to call each other _'fiancé'_ was the best thing possible.

"It's beautiful babe," Taylor said looking down at the ring.

"Almost as beautiful as you," he said with a smile.

"I love you." She said again.

"I love you too." He said back.

* * *

Micah had left campus, went to therapy, only to go back on campus again. He didn't have time to see who his partner was. He already knew his group was going to be a mess. He could already foresee his mom's back rubs throughout his senior year to keep him sane.

When he came back onto campus, he was met by his principal, "Oh, Mr. Mitchell-Beale, what brings you back here?"

"I had a therapy appointment and I still don't know who my partner is. So Guidance Counselor Carlson said that my mental health and stability came first and to come back and she'll have my partner waiting for me in her office." He said.

The principal smiled and said, "She's right, your mental health and stability _does_ come first. I don't want another student, especially a senior, fainting on my watch, ya hear me?"

"Yes ma'am, loud and clear." He said in a somewhat joking manner.

"Alright kiddo, now go on." She said. "And uh, tell your mama that the song she produced that's playing on the radio constantly, is stuck in my head."

Micah chuckled, "Will do. It's stuck in my head too." He said.

The boy then walked through the quad of South Los Angeles High School until he made it to where the guidance counselor's office was. He walked in to see a boy he's never seen before. He must be new because South Los Angeles High was fairly small and he knew pretty much his entire graduating class. He checked in with the receptionist, who then told him that he'd only have to wait a few moments.

He sat across from the boy, who was drawing in his sketch pad, and Micah pulled out his phone to see a text from Chloe.

 _[Mom, July 14th, 4:43pm]: We're having dinner with Parker, Emily, and Benji tonight at that pizza place near Eastwind. Join us?_

 _[Micah, July 14th, 4:45pm]: Sure, on campus now about to meet my partner for the year. Who's Benji?_

 _[Mom, July 14th, 4:46pm]: Oh, right! You've never met him! He's Parker's dad._

 _[Micah, July 14th, 4:46pm]: Okay, this shouldn't take long. I'll be there in an hour tops!_

 _[Mom, July 14th, 4:47pm]: Okay. Love you._

 _[Micah, July 14th, 4:47pm]: Love you too._

"Mr. Mitchell-Beale, please come in," the guidance counselor said. "You too, Mr. Adams." She said to the boy drawing in his sketch pad. Both boys stood up and went into the office, "As you can probably already tell, you two are project partners. Have you two met before?"

"No ma'am." They both said at the same time making them look at each other.

"You two have a lot in common." The guidance counselor said. "Mr. Mitchell-Beale, this is Cody Adams. Mr. Adams, this is Micah."

"You're Mrs. Mitchell-Beale's adoptive son, correct?" Cody asked Micah.

"I am." He said with a nod. "I'm sorry to say that I don't know anything about you."

"It's fine, we have all year to get to know each other." Cody said.

Micah was having a weird moment, he didn't know the boy standing in front of him, but he knew something about him made him special. His stomach was gaining butterflies that he only ever gain in the past when a girl was talking to him. Emerson Daley mainly, but there was something about this Cody Adams that made him feel this way. So many questions that he had with no answers.

He was in for an interesting senior year.

* * *

"So, we figured it'd just be easier to sit the four you down and tell you all at once," Parker said to all four of their parents.

They had sent the four of them a text, saying that they wanted to take them out to dinner, Dani had joined them too, neither mom wanting her to be alone, and Micah was late meeting them.

"Do you want to wait until Micah gets here?" Beca asked.

"Oh, that'd be good. Is he coming from therapy?" Taylor asked.

"No," Chloe said. "He had to go back to South Los Angeles to see who his senior project partner was."

"Holy crap," Parker said, "how many projects do they have during senior year?"

"Three." Chloe answered. "One individual. One partner. And one group."

"And we took our _one,_ four-year long, partner project for granted." Parker said as the boy came rushing into the pizza parlor.

"Sorry, sorry." Micah came rushing in. His mind still reeling with multiple emotions from meeting his partner.

"It's fine bubba," Chloe said as he sat down next to her. "Did you get to meet your partner?"

"I did," he said.

"Who?" Chloe asked knowing everybody in his class.

"Cody Adams," he said looking at the pizza on the table like he hadn't eaten in awhile.

"Oh, he's a sweet kid. I can see why they put him with you." Chloe said wrapping an arm around him.

"Yeah, yeah," he brushed it off not wanting to think about how sexually confused he was. "I'm starving."

"Here," Benji had said. "Take a piece," the boy took three. "Or three."

"You must be Benji," Micah said before taking a bite.

"I am," the man said. "Micah, right?" The boy nodded and stuck out his free hand. "Nice to meet you."

The boy swallowed and said, "Nice to meet you too." He then looked at Beca and said, "Oh and Principal Brown told me to tell you that the song you produced that's playing on the radio once every hour is stuck in her head."

Beca chuckled, "Yeah, it's stuck in everybody in the studio's head too. It's catchy." She said.

"So, we gathered everybody here today to make an announcement," Parker said when things got silent.

"What is Taylor pregnant?" Micah joked earning a glare from his entire family. "Okay, ya'll can't take a joke. That's good to know."

"Today, I asked Taylor to marry me," Parker said.

Smiles emerged on everybody's face and Beca then looked up at Emily, "I told you so."

"Yeah, okay," Emily said before pulling her son into a huge hug.

"Congratulations," everybody else said.

During all this commotion, Micah got a phone call, quietly excused himself from the table, and answered it, "Hello?"

 _"Hello, is this Micah Forrester?" A voice of a man came from the other line._

"My name is Micah Mitchell-Beale now, but I'm still the person you're looking for." He said.

 _"Oh, I apologize. The name I was given was Micah Forrester." The man said._

"It's fine, I got adopted about a year ago." He said. "May I ask who this is?"

 _"Oh yes," he said. "My name is Doctor Greyson Caldwell from the UCLA Medical Center."_

Micah's eyebrows shot up, "Okay? What's up Doctor Caldwell?" He asked nervously.

 _"Your birth mother is Sarah Forrester, correct?" He asked._

"Yes, sir. Is she okay?" He asked.

 _"I'm afraid not. Your number was the only number she had on her," he said. "She died of a drug and alcohol overdose earlier this afternoon."_

"Wha - wha - what?" He got out sliding to the seated position outside of the pizza parlor.

 _"She died-"_

"No, no." He said. "I heard you. I just don't want to believe you right now."

 _"I understand." The doctor said. "She left you and your sister a letter upon her death. We found it on her person as well."_

"Can I come pick it up tomorrow?" He asked. "I'm kind of celebrating my adoptive sister's engagement right now."

 _"Of course," he said. "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news on such a happy occasion."_

"It's fine sir, I'll be by tomorrow." He said.

They said their goodbyes and Micah just sat there for several minutes trying not to cry. He thought he'd be able to see his mom recover and start over again. See her fall in love again. Have her see him graduate high school, go through and graduate West Point, and live a happy life. But, the drugs and alcohol were too much for her now.

Chloe came out looking for him and saw the blank look on his face and sat next to him and asked, "What's wrong bubba?"

"I wanted her to see life after recovery." He said. "See her start over. Fall in love again. Live a happy life. And now I can't."

"What are you talking about lovey?" Chloe asked.

"That was a doctor from the UCLA Medical Center, my mom died earlier this afternoon from a drug and alcohol overdose." He said finally meeting her eyes. "Looks like you guys win, she won't be in my life anymore."

"Honey," Chloe said.

"I just need to be alone right now." He said. "Give me a few minutes, I'll be in."

"Okay," she said placing a kiss on his temple before going in.

As he sat there for a few moments thinking, trying to wrap his head around it, he felt his phone buzz in his hand. He looked at it and it was a text from his new project partner, the sexually confused the hell out of him, Cody:

 _[Cody, July 14th, 6:34pm]: Hey! Just wanted to say that I'm looking forward to working with you and getting to know you._

He smiled, even if the boy sexually confused him, the timing to make him feel slightly better, was amazing.

 _[Micah, July 14th, 6:35pm]: Yes! Me too!_

Just as he pressed send, his phone rang, it was his sister. She called him once a week for about twenty minutes, he took a shaky deep breath and answered the phone. "Hey Lieutenant, I've got some bad news..."

* * *

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Beca asked softly as Dani was between them in bed that night.

"He let me hold him tonight," Chloe said. "That's a good thing right?"

Beca was running her fingers through Dani's hair, "Yeah. It is." She said. "Am I a horrible person for not feeling sad about this for our son?"

"We didn't know her very well babe. We've seen her maybe three times." Chloe reasoned.

"Like, I'm glad I don't have the fear that she'll somehow get clean and take our baby boy away." She said, still running soft fingers through her princess' hair.

"I know, I feel the same way." Chloe said looking down at their baby. "But, the sad look in his eyes made my heart break."

"Yeah," Beca said remembering the look in his eyes when he came back to the table. "Okay, let's talk about something happy." She then said.

"We're gaining a new son." Chloe said with a smile.

"We are," Beca said. "Though he was like our son from the beginning, soo.."

Chloe chuckled, "When Emily first moved out here with him and they lived in our basement until you two got the label stuff figured out, it was nice." She said. "It's nice to have her as an in law."

"Yeah." Beca said as Dani's nightmare started.

 _"No," she mumbled. "No, no, no, no, no!"_

Beca then got her daughter cradled in her arms and started rocking her back and forth. And when he nightmare settled down, the music producer looked into the music teacher's eyes and saw the hint of vulnerability. She shifted their youngest daughter into the redhead's arms and subconsciously the girl buried her face into the woman's chest.

And for one moment, all was right in the world.

* * *

 **End of chapter a/n:** Yeeeah, so remember how I said that Beca and Chloe would be helping Micah through the Sarah debatacle... this is what I meant. Also, yes, we are going to have a sexually confused Micah for the next several chapters as he grieves the death of his mother and figures out how he feels about his new project partner. And we'll be meeting his biological sister here soon.

We're also going to see Dani push Chloe away a little more before Chloe has had enough and does something about it.

The drama and angst will be here to stay for awhile and I hope that's okay!


	9. He Has A Way With Words

**A/N:** I had a great time writing this one. Writing has been my escape from the stress, chaos, and other stuff lately. So, hope you enjoy more than once a week updates!

* * *

 **Chapter Nine: He Has A Way With Words**

Micah never thought he'd be so nervous standing in the baggage claim of LAX, but he was. He stood in the same spot he stood in just a month before when the aca-family came in for Dani's trial.

He hadn't seen his sister since they had gotten split up when he was five, they exchanged letters, and had some phone calls once he landed at the Mitchell-Beale's, but nothing other than that. So he stood dressed in jeans, dress shoes, and button down with a sign that read:

 _Welcome home, Lieutenant Bailee Forrester_

And when she came down, dressed in her Army class b uniform, a smile was brought on the face of the Army Lieutenant. She came up to him and he looked at her, then looked at the last name that was on her uniform that read, _Forrester_ , and he all, but threw himself in her arms.

"Hey bear," she murmured his nickname from their childhood. "You got so big."

He let out a low chuckle, "Yeah, I'm the biggest one in the house." He said. "Which speaking of, my family can't wait to meet you."

She smiled big, "I can't wait to meet them." She said.

"C'mon then," he said. "We'll talk on the way home."

* * *

"Sooo, this is it!" Micah said pulling in behind the gate up the long driveway to the house.

"Holy hell," she said. "You live in Hollywood Hills now?"

"Yeah, I'm sure my moms will explain the whole story over dinner." He said. "Which I hope you don't mind my sister, Taylor's fiancé, his mom, and my sisters' godmother is joining us too."

"No, I don't." Bailee said. "I want to get to know your family."

"Well, they want to be your family too, if that's okay." He said.

"Let me meet them first." She said.

"Of course." He said. "We better get in though. My moms might burst of excitement if we don't."

"Sure," she said getting out of the car and grabbing her bag out of the trunk of his jeep.

They walked in and Micah said in a high voice, "Hello? I'm back!"

"What took you so long?" Chloe asked coming in from the kitchen.

"Traffic on the 110 was horrible. There was a bad accident I think." He said, hugging Chloe and kissing her cheek.

Bailee watched as the redhead held him close for a moment before Beca walked in, "Yeah, it involved four cars. Didn't you listen to the radio?"

"Uh not on the way back," he said. "Bailee and I did a lot of talking." He added gesturing back to the Army Lieutenant behind him.

Beca and Chloe looked from their son to the women standing in the Army fatigues behind him, "It's nice to meet you Lieutenant Forrester." Beca said. "And thank you for your service to our country."

"What she said," Chloe said nervously. "And also thank you for your service."

"So the redhead is my mom, Chloe. And the short brunette over there is my mama, Beca." He said introducing them since he won't.

"Mrs. and Mrs. -" Bailee tried.

"Oh please," Beca said. "I know we're mothers of an 18 year old, but no need to be formal."

"And you're not in the military, so you can call me Bailee." The younger woman said.

"Sounds good, come in, meet our daughters, future son-in-law, and aca-sisters." Chloe said.

"Aca-sisters?" Bailee whispered to Micah walking behind them.

"They were in an acapella group, like a sorority in college. I'm sure they'll explain later." He said.

"Okay, good." She said.

The four of them walked into the kitchen where, Taylor was sitting on Parker's lap on the bench, Dani was texting somebody at the table, and Emily and Aubrey were drinking a glass of wine at the counter.

"Okay, so, these are the aca-sisters," Beca said. "Emily and Aubrey. And those two lovebirds over there are Taylor and Parker, and that one right there is Dani."

"I'll try to remember all of that," Bailee said.

"We'll help you remember," Aubrey said softly.

"Can we get you something to drink?" Chloe asked. "Water? Soda?"

"Water, would be great ma'am." She said.

"I'll get it, Mom." Micah said, jumping into action. "You sit. You've been on your feet all day."

"Okay, baby." The redhead said, knowing that he was just trying to shake off nerves. "Bailee, come sit."

"Yes ma'am." She said sitting next to Chloe at the table.

Beca had gone into the kitchen to see if her son needed help and she saw his tense shoulders, she came from behind him and said, "Relax."

"Sorry Mama, I just want things to be okay, you know?" He said getting filtered water for his sister and a glass bottled root beer for himself.

"I love you bubba." She said watching how that relaxed him.

"I love you too, Mama." He said.

"Everything is going to be fine." She said. "Don't you worry."

* * *

"So, how'd my brother end up here?" Bailee asked over dinner. "It's a lovely home." Earning a thank you from both Beca and Chloe.

"He's one of my students," Chloe said. "And I realized that something was wrong with him. And he captured my heart and I couldn't do anything, but help."

"I was in an abusive foster home," Micah decided to really start the story. "I missed a week of school and next thing I knew I had her and my principal on my doorstep. I had never been more relieved in my entire life."

"I had to talk this one into it," Chloe said, "and we got our fostering licenses and we promised to at least foster him until he aged out."

"And then he wormed his way into our hearts," Beca said. "And I realized that if I didn't make him a Mitchell-Beale it would be the worst mistake of my life."

"You work at South Los Angeles?" Bailee asked Chloe.

"I do," she said. "I could've gotten a job at a better school, but why? When I can make an impact on the young people's lives that nobody has faith in?"

"I graduated from there." Bailee said. "Three years ago, _now_ , I know why you look so familiar." Chloe looked at the girl, "I didn't take music classes. That took time of practice and after my emancipation, I didn't have time for that."

"You went through our foster/emancipation program, yes?" Chloe asked.

Bailee nodded, "That I did." She said.

"I knew you looked familiar," Chloe said.

"Yeah, so you brought him here, you adopted him?" Bailee said. "My strong willed, stubborn brother? The one who was on his way to emancipation?"

"I may or may not have made promises that first night that made emancipation sound like a dumb idea," Chloe said.

Micah looked at his sister and said, "She did."

"What made you crack the most?" Bailee asked. "Because I know you promises don't do anything."

Micah chuckled and said, "She gave me puppy dog eyes and I caved."

"Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only one that falls for that," Dani said from across the table.

"What are you talking about sissy?" Taylor asked. "We _all_ fall for Mom's puppy dog eyes."

"It's true," Beca said.

"Yeah, when they first started dating I thought your mama was going to go broke with all the random that time of the month cravings that your mom had." Aubrey said.

"Gross," both Micah and Parker muttered, not wanting to think about _that time of the month._

The women in the room chuckled, "Not gonna lie," Beca said, "I love you baby, so much, but your cravings were worse when you were pregnant with this one over here," she wrapped her arm around Taylor and kissed the girl's cheek.

"They were." Chloe agreed.

Bailee looked over to her brother, the last time they saw each other, he was three years before, when he was a freshman at South Los Angeles High, he was lost, confused about everything in life, and just needed somebody to take him in and love him. And by the looks on the faces of Beca and Chloe Mitchell-Beale, he found that and so much more.

* * *

Micah and Bailee found themselves in the backyard, everybody was out for a fire after dinner, one by one everybody went inside excluding Micah and Bailee.

"So this is homebase?" Bailee said.

"This is home base." Micah confirmed.

"You have a nice homebase," Bailee said.

"Thank you," he said.

"I'm sorry I agreed for them to split us up." The Army Lieutenant said. "I thought I was doing you a favor."

"You were at first," Micah said. "The Masterson's, they were great. They were going to adopt me."

"What happened?" Bailee asked.

"They were picking me up from school when they were involved in a bad car accident." He said looking down at the hands in his lap. "So it started the process over again."

"Was it really as bad as your moms were making it sound?" Bailee asked.

Micah looked up and looked deep into his sister's dark brown eyes and said, "I'm not sure it could be any worse than what it was." Bailee closed her eyes and let out a breath, "But, here's the thing, I wouldn't change any of that for the world, wanna know why?" The young woman nodded, "Because it led me here. It led me straight in the arms of Beca and Chloe Mitchell-Beale. Do I think back on all the shit that those people caused me? Of course. Does a day go by without thinking of all those times where I'd come home and be called a piece of shit? Of course not. But, it led me _here._ It led me _home._ And for that, I'd go through it all over again knowing that when I wake up in the morning, my mom has me in her arms and both of our morning coffees on my nightstand. Knowing that when I have a get a B- on an assignment instead of an A+, my mama will put it on the refrigerator, until my next grade comes in. Knowing that when I have a bad day, my mom will wrap me in her arms and tell me how much she loves me, and how much she's proud of me for making it through another day all the while my mama is making me my favorite meal. Knowing that I have two sisters who I'd do anything for and they'd do _anything_ for me. Are the Mitchell-Beale's perfect? Not in the world's standards, but they're perfect for me."

"You really have your way with words," Bailee said.

"I know you do too," he said. "It's a Forrester trait." He smiled at her, they were sitting across from each other and he then opened his arms and said, "C'mere."

Bailee moved to her younger brother's arms, "Do they really want me in the family?" Bailee asked after a few minutes.

Micah nodded, "They know you can't live here or will ever call them Mom and Mama, but they want you to have some kind of family to come home to."

Bailee smiled, "I'd like that too." She said.

They sat like that for awhile little did they know, Beca, Chloe, Aubrey, and Emily were watching all with a glass of wine from the backdoor.

* * *

"They look peaceful together." Aubrey mentioned. "I don't think I've seen him that peaceful before."

"He's always like this around us," Beca said. "He's held Dani more times than I can count since Taylor's graduation day."

"Do you think he likes me?" Aubrey asked. "The last conversation we actually had that wasn't over text was that argument the night of the trial."

"You kind of scare the shit out of him, Bree." Beca said.

"I do?" Aubrey asked.

"You're different with him than you are with the girls," Chloe said softly, putting her hand on the lawyer's arm.

"I am?" Aubrey asked.

"He doesn't know what to do half the time around you," Beca said softly. "He thinks that you don't like him. He's _always_ felt that way."

Aubrey turned around placed her glass on the table, sat on the bench surrounding it, and put her face in her hands, "Bree," Chloe said sitting next to her.

"He thinks I hate him?" Aubrey asked in disbelief. "Am I still that much of an ass?"

"Hey," Beca said, "you're _not_ an ass."

"Your son is afraid of me," Aubrey said.

"Yes," Chloe said wrapping her arm around the woman, "it's a defense mechanism. We try not to yell at him because it bring up something from his past. You didn't know that. So it's fine."

Aubrey's insecurities rose and Beca saw it. Chloe saw it. Hell, Emily saw it. But, Beca was the only one to do something about it when she shot out of Chloe's arms.

Beca pinned the lawyer against the wall, not in a sexual way that she does with Chloe quite often, but in a way to let her know that she's not messing around. She made firm eye contact with the blonde, "Aubrey, I want you to listen to me, okay?" The lawyer nodded, "You didn't know what triggered him. You didn't know that you getting angry while sticking up for _me_ would cause him to feel this way. He's working through that. His therapist is helping him through that. Chloe and I are helping him through that. I need you to stop beating yourself up. That's not good, Bree. You've come so far from that woman you were when Chloe and I first moved out here, don't go back to that place."

Tears developed in her eyes and she fell into Beca's shoulder and started crying. Beca wrapped strong arms around the woman and slid to the seated position on the floor to comfort her best friend. The music producer then made eye contact with her wife, who's eyes filled with tears gave her an appreciative smile and nod. Her eyes then looked over at her business partner, who was looking on the scene with awe. She's only seen Beca like this with her and even then she wasn't seeing it, but when she saw how it all unfolded, she was grateful for a business partner, a friend, a sister, who loved her no matter what.

* * *

The next morning, Micah woke up to pressure on his side that was bouncing on him, "Wake up, wake up! It's August 3rd," he heard Chloe say.

"Mo-om," he got out, "if you're here to cuddle then just cuddle, enough with your overexcited-ness first thing in the morning."

"You really didn't forget what today was, did you?" He then heard Beca ask. "If you forgot about your birthday, we haven't been doing our jobs right as your mothers."

He turned over in his half-asleep state to see his two moms and Bailee standing there with coffee mugs in their hands, "One of those better be for me," he mumbled to his mama.

"Yeah, like we'd wake you up at five-thirty in the morning without coffee," Beca said sarcastically.

"Better not," he mumbled with a smile as his moms got on one side of the bed and Bailee on the other.

Once the three of them got settled, Bailee said, "Happy birthday bear." She added a kiss to his cheek afterwards.

"Thanks Bee." He said.

"I know it's not much," Bailee said, "but I got you something from the JFK airport."

She pulled something out of her pajama pants and handed it to him, he unwrapped it, and said, "Bee."

"Remember when we were kids and Mom kicked us in the backyard to lose some energy before dinner and we'd pretend that we were astronauts flying through space?" She asked as she looked down at the small rocket ship model. He nodded, "It's a symbol of all the times where we found ourselves on Pluto, Mars, and throughout space."

He turned around more fully to give her a hug, tears filling both of their eyes, "We'll get through tomorrow," he whispered to her. "We'll say our goodbyes and we'll move forward."

"I love you bear." She got out through tears.

"I love you too Bee." He said. Beca and Chloe, who were honored to witness this moment, wiped tears from their eyes, when Micah turned back around to face them, he chuckled, "Sorry about that." He said.

"It's okay bubba." Chloe said kissing his forehead.

"So we did get you something," Beca said pulling it off of his nightstand.

"You two didn't have to-" he started.

"Hey, no." Beca said. "We talked about this. We are fully aware that we spoil you kids to some extent, but let us do it."

"Okay," he said. She handed him a box and he opened it and then asked confused, "A new phone?"

"The one you have is your mama's old one." Chloe said. "And we felt like you deserve one that you can actually call yours."

"I was fine with the one I have," Micah said.

"It's cracked." Beca said not believing what her son was saying.

"I just don't want you to feel like you have to spoil me because you spoil the girls." He said.

Bailee chuckled behind him, "Just live with it bear." She said. "They obviously want to."

Micah looked down a little embarrassed and Beca reached over from behind Chloe to lift his chin up, "We love you bubba." She said. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks, I love you too." He said.

* * *

"Quite a little get together you got going on here," Aubrey said sitting next to the boy.

"Yeah," he said. "All my friends are busy today, but we're getting together next week to celebrate."

"That's cool." Aubrey said. "May I talk to you about something?"

"Of course," he said staring at his feet in the water.

"I'm sorry if I trigger you." The lawyer said.

"Aunt Bree-" he tired.

"No, no, let me get this out." She said. He nodded. "I never know how to act around you. I'll be honest, at first, I thought your moms took you in as a charity case." She saw his head drop. "And then I quickly realized that I was wrong." He made eye contact with her, "You were the missing puzzle piece to this family. You make the Mitchell-Beale family complete. I didn't know that until recently, until I found out that you were talking to your birth mom. Until Chloe called me and said that you thought that Beca didn't love you. Then it got me so angry until I saw your heart. Until I saw how every time you enter the house you kiss both of your moms on the cheek without them asking you to. Until I saw how protective you got the other night when Parker was being an ass to Taylor. Until I saw how you hold Dani when the world is too overwhelming for her to process." Aubrey wrapped a loose arm around him and finished with saying, "I'm sorry for triggering you."

A moment of silence washed over them while Micah was trying to find the words to say and when he did, they were beautiful, "Ten years. That's how long it took me to find home. When I was five, I was taken out of a bad situation and put into a good one. They were going to adopt me. They couldn't have kids of their own, but they knew that their were kids out there who needed parents. And then, they were hit by a person driving drunk before two in the afternoon. From there I was put into a worse situation then where I started. Five social workers. Four of them gave up on me because they couldn't seem to place me home. Until my last social worker said that she'd go through hell to place me home and if she didn't she'd take care of me after I aged out because that's how much she believed in me. One music teacher. That's all it took to help guide me home. Have I made my mistakes since getting here? Of course I have. And I know you were angry, hell, if I were you I would be livid. But, I had no intention of running away from my safe harbor. This," he said gesturing to his surroundings, "is homebase. This is my safe harbor."

Aubrey swallowed, "You sure have a way with words," she said when she figured out his was done.

He shrugged placing his head on her shoulder, "I've been told."

"I got you something." Aubrey said after a few moments.

"You didn't have to," Micah said.

"You're my nephew, of course I _had_ to." She said. He smiled and took the box from her and he opened it to see a necklace, "I know you'll be wearing Army dog tags one day, but I saw it and couldn't help, but think of you." She said as he inspected it. "It's Japanese for-"

"Strength." He said knowingly. Aubrey looked at him not knowing how he knew that, "C'mon Aunt Bree, you know I'm like American Japanese or whatever. I learned how to speak it."

She smiled, "There's an English engraving on the back." She said.

 _Never give up - always keep dreaming! Remember that I love you! -Aunt Bree_

His eyes watered and he looked from the engraving to his aunt and gave her a huge hug, "Thank you," he said. "I love you too."

"Happy birthday Micah," Aubrey said softly.

They hugged for another moment not realizing that Beca was holding Chloe from behind, both watching the scene unfold from their balcony.

* * *

There was a knock on the door after dinner and Chloe went to get it, "Oh hi Cody," she said.

"Uh hi Mrs. Mitchell-Beale, the gate was open when I got here," he said. "Is, uh, is Micah here?"

"Yeah just one moment." Chloe said. "Micah?"

"Yeah, Mom?" He said from the couch where he was cuddled into Beca.

"You have a visitor," she said.

Micah got up and walked into the entryway and when he saw the sight of his project partner, his heart sped up, "Oh hi Cody." He said.

"I'll give you two a few moments," Chloe said exiting to where everybody else was in the living room.

"What's up?" Micah asked.

"Well, you said it was your birthday," Cody said, "and I got you something."

"Oh dude, you didn't-" he tried before being rudely interrupted from the other room.

"I swear to god child," Beca called out to him, "you have to stop saying that."

Micah looked down embarrassed and said, "Uh, we can go talk up in my room to have a little more privacy."

The two walked up the stairs and what they didn't hear is Bailee asking the question, "Are they together?"

It made Beca spit out her beer, before Chloe saying, "They're project partners, but yeah, we think something else is going on between them."

"It looks like he really like him." Bailee said.

"I can see it," Emily said. "I can _totally_ see it."

"Only time will tell." Chloe said.

"So should we start placing bets now?" Taylor asked. "Y'know like the aca-aunts did with you two?"

"No," Chloe said. "Let's let him figuring it out without placing money on him."

"Yeah," Beca said, "your mom was so mad when the other Bellas did that."

"Solely because betting on your friends or siblings love lives is not a thing to do." Chloe said.

"Yeah," Aubrey said, "your mom wouldn't talk to me for two weeks after she found out we were betting against the two of them."

"Because you _knew_ I liked her." Chloe said curling into Beca.

"I did." Aubrey said. "I was the one who won the bet too."

Beca kissed her wife's temple, "Breathe baby." She then whispered knowing how this subject angered her wife.

* * *

"Sorry about that," Micah said. "My family can be intense most of the time."

"It's fine," Cody said, "I'd rather you have an intense family then not a family at all."

Micah looked into Cody's bright blue eyes and said, "Oh right."

Shortly after meeting each other, they decided to get to know the basics of one another, and quickly figured out why they were paired up.

Micah was in the foster care ten years before being adopted; Cody was in the foster care ten years before applying for emancipation. Micah was more athletic and Cody was more artistic. Micah was questioning where he stood sexually, Cody was proudly out of the closet. They both had eyes for West Point. While they seemed to be the polar opposites of each other, they were one in the same.

Micah found himself lost in Cody's eyes before he snapped out of it, "So, uh, your gift."

"Right," Cody said snapping out of his lost gaze.

Cody held a box in front of Micah and the boy took it and opened it. "Dude." He let out when he saw what it was.

"It's the original Batman comics from last century." Cody said. "You said you've been wanting to read it, I found it online."

"This must of cost you a fortune." Micah said in awe that his new friend would get him something like this.

Cody shrugged with a small smile, "Anything for a friend." He said. Micah spread his arms open for a hug and when Cody was in his arms, he oddly felt safe and it didn't bother him. So when he pulled away and looked into the boy's eyes again, he felt Cody feeling slightly the same way. He stepped back and took a deep breath and Cody then asked, "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Micah said honestly.

"Hey," Cody said trying to make the eye contact the Micah desperately wanted to avoid. "You can talk to me."

Micah took a deep breath and then asked, "When did you know for sure that you were gay?"

Cody smiled, the blonde boy figured that was the case, but didn't want to push it, and said, "It started when I was 13..."

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** I know that's probably not where you wanted me to end it and to be honest, this chapter wrote itself because this was not where I had it going at first.

Anyway, thought I should share that I got a tumblr account! I plan on sharing sneak peaks, taking questions, and suggestions about where you want this to go!

It's the same name I have on here, **determined-or-something** just with the tumblr stuff at the end. I'm still trying to set stuff up, but if you're on there and wanna talk and stuff, I'll be on there!


	10. Butterflies & New Beginnings

**A/N:** By now you'll probably guess where this is going. But, it's still going to be a journey. If that's okay with everyone?

* * *

 **Chapter Ten: Butterflies & New Beginnings**

Micah was in the garage punching the life out of the punching bag that Beca had gotten him when he first started therapy to let out his anger. The boy was thinking about what Cody had said to him the night before.

 _"It started when I was 13," he said. "I was in a foster home that my older foster brother was gay. He would bring his boyfriend over sometimes and I would just look in awe with how they looked so comfortable together. I had to be subtle about it because I didn't want him to beat the shit out of me. I didn't think about it until three years later when I was emancipated. I developed feelings for this guy. And from there, I realized that it wasn't just him, it was a lot of other guys too. So I put this pieces together."_

Right hook. Left hook. Double punch.

It was the rhythm that Micah fell into before Beca came out into the garage and asked, "Everything okay?" He didn't answer. He kept punching. Beca then grabbed his shoulder, "Micah." She said firmly. Making him stop punching and turn around, his eyes were stormy, it actually scared Beca, so she asked again. "Talk to Mama, what's wrong?"

"I miss Sarah, senior year is already getting to me a week before it even starts, and I have feelings for Cody." He got out all at once.

"Okay, okay," Beca said. "Breathe," she added. "In through your nose. Out through your mouth. You're going to go into a panic attack if you're not careful." Micah did what his mama asked him to do. "Let's take it one step at a time. You miss Sarah," she said.

"Yeah." He said. "I know that's not what you want to hear."

Beca shook her head, "This _isn't_ about me right now." She said. "You miss Sarah, I can't do anything about that, sorry kiddo." He took another deep breath, "Senior year is already stressing you out?"

"I've picked my individual project, Cody and I have picked our partner project, it's just my group can't agree on anything." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed his mama the group text.

"Holy hell," Beca muttered reading through them. "Does Mom need to give you a backrub?" He nodded slightly rubbing his own neck.

"Come on." Beca said. "Let's finish this conversation inside."

Beca wrapped an arm around him and led him inside up to the master bedroom where Chloe was folding clothes.

"Hey bubba," Chloe said. "You okay?"

"He could use a Mom backrub," Beca said knowing he was going into a panic attack.

Chloe saw him in the midst of a panic attack too, "Lay on the bed bubba, let me take care of you." The redhead said.

He laid face first onto the bed and Chloe started rubbing his back, "So you miss Sarah, your senior group project is shitty, and you have feelings for Cody." Beca said trying to fill her wife in with her son's help, "Anything I missed?"

"No ma'am." He mumbled into Chloe's pillow.

"It's okay to miss Sarah," Chloe said rubbing a knot in his shoulder. "We don't not love you for that."

"You hate her," he mumbled trying to relax as his mother's hands started rubbing knots out of her shoulders.

"We didn't hate her," Beca said. "We just weren't fans of her."

"What Mama said, bub." Chloe said. "Has your group agreed on a project yet?"

"No," he said. "It's driving me insane."

"Have you actually participated in that conversation?" Beca asked. "I didn't see you in that group message."

"I don't want to add fuel to the fire." He said before saying, "Oww."

"There's a huge knot there, bub." Chloe said.

"I know, but holy hell!" He said.

"Relax," Chloe said softly as she continued rubbing. "And you need to participate in that group conversation, you could get marked down for not participating."

"Fine," he grumbled.

"And Cody?" Beca said letting him take control of this conversation.

He sat up, something he never does when Chloe's rubbing his back, and he hunched over a little rubbing his hand over his face.

"I have these feelings for him that I've never had for another guy before and I'm scared." He said.

"What are you scared of?" Chloe asked wrapping an arm around him.

"That he doesn't feel the same way about me. That what I'm feeling isn't real." He answered.

"We can tell what you're feeling is real bub," Chloe said kissing his forehead. "And I'm sure if he went out his way last night to come and give you his gift instead of waiting until tomorrow, he feels the same way."

"Were you scared at first?" Micah asked Beca. He knew Chloe wasn't. They had talked about it briefly in the past.

"Yeah," Beca answered. "But, only because I didn't have what you do have." He gave his mama a confused look, "Supportive parents."

He nodded, "I really like him Moms," he said.

Chloe kissed his head, "So invite him over tonight." She said. "We won't interrogate him. But, with Bailee here and Aunt Emily and Aunt Bree. It would be nice to know the Cody Adams outside of school."

"Okay," Micah said.

"Now lay back down and let me finish your backrub," Chloe playfully demanded.

As he laid back down, Chloe winked at her wife, in a way to say, everything's going to be okay.

* * *

"Saying goodbye sucks," Bailee said to Micah as they walked up to the cemetery to bury their shared mother.

"Yeah it does," Micah said and then he turned to his moms and said, "Wait another 50 years before doing this to me, okay?"

Beca squeezed his shoulder and said, "Whatever you want bubba."

Bailee was fidgeting in her uniform and Chloe saw it, she said, "Bailee? You okay?"

"Fine ma'am." She said. "This is just the second time we've had to do this in our lifetimes. Let alone a 12 year period."

Chloe let go of Beca's hand and caught up to wrap an arm around the Army lieutenant, "This must be hard then." Chloe said.

"It is," she said. "Like Micah said, don't do this to him for another 50 years."

"We have no plans to," Chloe said looking over at her son who was messing with his tie.

* * *

Later that day, after they had gotten home, Micah snuck up to his room to have a minute alone. Bailee stood in the backyard trying to figure out what had happened that morning. Taylor and Dani were sitting in the kitchen talking about something. Leaving Beca and Chloe to sit alone in the car. They had started out talking, but the Chloe had grabbed her by the collar and kissed her.

So they started making out in the car like teenagers, Chloe pulled away and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too, beautiful." Beca whispered back. Her phone in the cupholder than vibrated alerting her that somebody was at the gate. When she looked over her shoulder to see Cody's beat up Toyota truck, she let him in and then got out of the car. Chloe followed her wife out.

The boy parked his truck and got out greeting the couple, "Mrs. and Mrs. Mitchell-Beale," he said. "It's nice to see you."

"You can call us by our names," Chloe said. "Just on campus do you have to call _me_ that."

"Yes ma'am." He said.

"Micah is inside." Beca said. "Come in."

"How's he doing?" Cody asked. "He seemed distant in our text conversations."

"He's okay." Chloe said. "He had a rough morning, but I know he'd love to see you."

When the three got into the house, Beca called out, "Bubba!"

"Yeah?" Was heard from the second floor.

"Cody's here," Beca called back.

 _Thump._

That's what was heard upstairs. Beca and Chloe tried to hide their laughs when Dani and Taylor walked into the room, "Hey Cody," Dani said giving the boy a hug.

"Hi munchkin." He said. "Hi Future Dr. Taylor Junk!"

"Hey Code." Taylor said as Bailee walked in.

"You must be Lieutenant Forrester," Cody said to the younger woman.

"I am, you can call me Bailee though," the woman said, "Cody, yes?"

He nodded as a dysfunctional Micah came tumbling down the stairs. "You okay bubba?" Taylor asked as he stumbled into the entryway.

"Yeah, yeah. Fine." Micah said looking at his sister and then to Cody, "Hey."

Cody chuckled, "Hi." He said softly.

Micah was shaking subtly, "Th-thanks for coming." He said. He looked back at his moms who were both mouthing, ' _breathe.'_ "We-we have lunch in the kitchen, are you hungry?"

Cody smiled, "When am I _not_ hungry?" He asked.

Micah chuckled softly, "I feel that," he said leading his friend and family into the kitchen.

* * *

By the middle of lunch, Aubrey, Emily, and Parker had joined them. Aubrey was sitting between Bailee and Dani and noticed the little food Dani had on her plate. Quietly, the lawyer whispered into the girl's ear, without getting anybody else's attention, saying, "You should be eating more than that monkey."

"I'm not that hungry," she mumbled back.

"Monkey," Aubrey said wrapping her arm around the girl.

Dani quietly excuses herself from the table for a moment, she was about to go into a panic attack. Both Beca and Chloe looked to Aubrey who then excused herself to go talk to the girl more privately.

Aubrey found her on the front porch with her knee tucked under her chin and when the lawyer got up to the girl, she sat next to her, and pulled the somewhat distraught girl in her arms.

When the girl finally calmed down, Chloe had come looking for them to see if they were okay, "Everything okay?" The redhead asked.

It didn't go unnoticed to the music teacher or the lawyer that the teenager girl more into Aubrey and buried her face into the blonde's chest when she heard Chloe's voice.

Chloe forced a smile, still hurt that her daughter was pushing her away, Aubrey noticed this and answered, "Yeah," her voice soft. "We'll be back in a minute." Aubrey's face said, "I'll talk with her." Chloe nodded and went back to the backyard patio, "You wanna tell Aunt Bree, what the hell that was?"

"It's nothing." Dani muttered.

"It's _not_ nothing and you know it." Aubrey said.

Dani sat up and took a deep breath and asked a question that Aubrey wasn't expecting, "Does she still love me?"

"Wh-what?" Was all Aubrey could get out.

"Does she still love me?" Dani asked again looking at her godmother over her shoulder.

"She's your mom." Aubrey said. "There's no way she couldn't love you."

"Biologically, she's my aunt." The teenager fought back.

Aubrey sat forward and rubbed her face, "Even if your mama was married to your Uncle David and your mom was just your aunt, that wouldn't change her love for you." Dani looked at the porch ground in front of her, "Y'know, I remember the night that your moms found out that they were having another girl." Dani's head snapped to her godmother. "I remember sitting on the balcony of the apartment they and Taylor were in, your mama and Taylor had gone to bed, and I remember her fear that you would feel like this." Dani averted eye contact and rolled her lips back, "I remember her almost in tears asking me what would happen if you would ever feel like this, ever feel like she wasn't your mom or wouldn't see how much she loved you like she gave birth to you. And you wanna know what I said?" Dani's watery eyes met her godmother's equally watery eyes, "I said that you would be crazy if you didn't see the love that your mom had for you." Aubrey grabbed the girl's face and whispered, "She loves you."

"Then why did she act so distant before, during, and after the trial?" Dani asked.

Aubrey caressed Dani's cheekbones remembering a lot of conversations with emotional, angry Chloe since finding out what had happened to Dani. She didn't think she would act distant to the girl, she knew it wasn't on purpose, but it was still enough for the girl to question the redhead's love for her.

"You know how your mama shows how mad she is?" Aubrey asked. "How she'll do anything for her family?" Dani nodded. "Your mom doesn't show her anger very easily. It's why people are scared of her when she does get mad. She's been hiding it because she wants to be strong for you. Because nobody should have to go through what you went through."

"So she didn't stop loving me?" Dani asked.

"She could never stop." Aubrey said kissing the girl's forehead.

* * *

Bailee was in the kitchen later on that afternoon eating whatever was on the counter and refilling her water glass. Emily had come in to do the same and saw the timid Army lieutenant and decided to strike up a conversation.

"Hey," Emily said.

"Hi, Emily, right?" Bailee asked to clarify.

"Yeah," Emily said with a smile. "You having an okay time, despite the circumstances?"

"Yeah," the younger woman said. "I'm really glad that my brother has found home. He looks really relaxed as a Mitchell-Beale."

Emily looked through the window where the boy was sitting next to Cody and they were talking about something, "When was the last time you talked to him in person before this?"

"Right before we got separated." Bailee said. "We were at South Los Angeles together for a year together, but I couldn't find the courage to go and talk to him. So I watched him in his senior year from a distance. Went to all his football and baseball games. Watched him preform on the drumline when he did. I graduated early, so I didn't have to torture myself for too long."

"Why didn't you ever talk to him?" Emily asked.

"I felt like I abandoned him," she said.

"Oh," Emily said.

"Yeah," she said. "But, he has something I never got to have. A family."

Emily looked at the girl and said, "You know this is your family too."

Bailee chuckled, "Oh, okay!" She said.

"It's true." Emily said.

"This isn't even close to my family." Bailee said. "What? They bravely adopt my sacred, stubborn brother, and all of a sudden they're _my_ family?"

"Do you know what family is?" Emily asked with a little confidence in her voice. The silence told Emily that the girl was still hurt from the lack of adoption. "I'll take that as a no." The Army lieutenant made eye contact with the music producer, "Family isn't about blood or a piece of paper making you theirs. It's about those people who will accept your faults and still love you unconditionally. It's about those people who will wrap you in their arms and say, _'I know you. You aren't perfect and that's okay because we're not perfect either. We can be imperfect together.'_ It's about those people who every holiday you come home to." Emily swallowed and wrapped the girl in a hug before saying, "When they adopted your brother, in a way they adopted you too. Beca and Chloe Mitchell-Beale want you to be another daughter to them. Legally, you'll always be a Forrester, but in the hearts of every Mitchell-Beale, to me and Parker, to Aubrey, and all of the aca-family to the side, you'll be family."

They stood their for a moment as Bailee relaxed in Emily's arms for a few moments before ruining the moment saying, "You mean there's more of you in this aca-family?"

Emily smiled, she knew the girl got the point, and would fit into the family just well by ruining perfectly good moments with humor.

* * *

"Mommy?" Dani said softly later that afternoon when she found Chloe alone on the back porch swing.

"Hi angel." Chloe said. "Do you want to sit?" Dani nodded and Chloe made room for her. Dani created distance between them and Chloe tried to not look hurt by the gesture.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Dani asked the question that Micah essentially asked Beca two months before, "Do you still love me?"

Chloe who had been looking out at Taylor, Micah, Parker, and Cody playing volleyball in the pool, snapped her head to her youngest, "Of course I do." She said. "Why - why would you think I didn't?"

"You've been distant ever since I told you about what happened." Dani said.

"I've been giving you space," she said. "That's what you wanted right?"

"Mama hasn't been giving me space," the teenager said.

"Yeah, your mama doesn't have much self-control when it comes to you kids or me." Chloe said knowing full well that she was the cause of that. "Can - can I hold you?" Dani nodded as Chloe wrapped her in her strong arms and kissed the top of her head, "I love you so much, angel. I'm so sorry that you thought otherwise."

For the first time in about a month, Dani buried herself into Chloe's chest, and said, "I'm sorry for hurting you."

"It's fine angel," Chloe said. "I'm just glad to have you back in my arms."

* * *

Micah and Cody were sitting with their feet in the pool and finally the blonde boy looked at Micah and asked, "Did I do something wrong?"

Micah's head snapped from the water to Cody's bright blue eyes and said, "What? No, of course not."

"Then why have you been acting weird around me today?" Cody asked.

Micah took a deep breath, "Because I have feelings for you that I've only ever had for a girl." He said. "And I'm just confused."

Cody smiled a small smile and said, "I have feelings for you too."

"Yeah?" Micah said.

Cody nodded, "And I'm more than willing to take whatever we want this to be slow, at _your_ pace." He said. "I know you won't have a problem with your family." He added looking over Micah's shoulder at how Chloe was curled into Beca with Dani sprawled out across both of their laps, the teenager's head in Chloe's lap with the music teacher playing with her hair and with the music producer's free hand massaging the girl's calves, and how Taylor was curled into Parker while Bailee was sitting between Emily and Aubrey finding her own place in this ever growing family. "But, I know being out at school will be hard, believe me, I know." Cody took Micah's hand into his own and said, "So, like I said, we'll take it at _your_ pace. We'll figure us out before we shout it from the rooftops, so to speak."

Micah smiled enjoying the feeling of the other boy's hand in his own, "Thank you for being so understanding," Micah said gazing into the boy's eyes.

"It's not easy being so open and honest about how you feel about these things," he said. "The least I could do is be so understanding."

"So, does that mean you'll be my boyfriend, even though we're figuring things out?" Micah asked.

Cody nodded, "If anything happens during this year as project partners, we have to agree to still be civil, until we graduate."

"I don't normally hold things against people," Micah said. "So I think we'll be good."

"So, what are you doing tomorrow?" Cody asked.

"I have to take Bailee back to the airport and then we're having a going away/engagement party for Taylor and Parker." Micah said. "I should have time between that since I take Bailee in the morning and the party is in the evening."

"Well, would you like to go on a date with me?" Cody asked. "My treat."

"Sure," Micah said. "I can pick you up from your apartment after I drop Bailee off. Then I'm being told to invite you to the party tomorrow."

"I like the sound of that." Cody said. "And why?"

"I told my moms that I have feelings for you." He said. "And they want you to hang around, if that's okay."

"Of course it is." Cody said.

"I want to figure us out some before we tell them though," Micah said. "If that makes sense."

Cody nodded, "It does." He said.

* * *

"You be safe, okay?" Micah said outside the security check point.

"I will," she said hugging him. "And you tell Cody how you feel, yeah?"

Micah smiled knowing he already has, "Yes, ma'am."

"I love you bear." She said.

"I love you too, bee." He said. "Go or you'll miss your flight."

Bailee pulled back and said, "Tell the family that I love them."

Micah smiled and inwardly made a note to thank Emily that night and said, "Of course."

Micah stood and watched his sister go through security and stood there until he couldn't see her anymore before heading back down to his car.

* * *

"You're leaving me," Beca all, but called out right before the party started.

Taylor's eyes went wide, she never put the pieces together, and forgetting how emotional her mama could get. Chloe, seeing this, came up behind her wife, and hugged her placing her chin on the music producer's shoulder.

"They all have to grow up some time baby," Chloe said softly.

Parker came in and asked, "Why is Aunt Beca crying?"

"You're leaving me too," she called out to Parker.

"Oh no," the boy said, "I already am getting this from my mom." He started stiffly shaking his head, "Not you too."

"You know how your Aunt Beca gets," Chloe said. "Give her this. Both of you."

"We'll be fine," Taylor said. "We'll both be on the other side of Aunt Stacie."

"That doesn't make me feel better honey." Beca said to her daughter. "Aunt Stacie isn't me."

"What's going on in here?" Micah asked coming into the room with Cody.

"Mama's getting emotional again," Dani said from her spot at the kitchen table.

"Mama," Micah said, "I know this is a preview for what I'm going to get next year, but really?"

While the two boys agreed to not tell the family about their relationship until the figured things out, the family noticed how close the two boys were standing.

"I just miss them already, okay?" Beca said.

"They aren't leaving for another _two days_ ," Benji said coming into the kitchen with the burgers. "How are you and I the only sane parents?" He asked Chloe.

"I guess so," Chloe said. "Nothing against my baby girl, but I think I'll be more emotional next year when this one graduates," she added gesturing to Micah.

"Oh god, please no." Micah said with wide eyes.

Beca chuckled, "You're definitely Mommy's boy." The music producer said as Micah opened a can of Dr. Pepper taking a sip.

"I like Mommy's boys," Cody said only for him to hear making him spit out some of the soda and choke a little.

"You alright dude?" Parker asked with her arm around Taylor as the boy started to breathe normally again.

"Yeah, yeah." He said glaring at his boyfriend for making him do that. Cody smiled like nothing happened. "Can we get this party started yet?"

The doorbell rang right after that, "Yes!" Beca said.

* * *

Taylor was cuddled into Parker later that night, after four hours of hanging with their friends, she was watching Micah teach Cody how to balance on a skateboard.

"Do you think they know how the other one feels yet?" Taylor asked.

"Probably," Parker said. "Micah is less awkward around Cody now. I'm sure they are just trying to figure things out without the pressure of everyone knowing."

"Like we did?" Taylor asked knowing that they didn't tell people until six months into the relationship.

"Yeah, but we did that because we were like cousins and we didn't know how our moms would react." Parker reminded her.

"True." Taylor said. "I really love you Park."

"I love you too Tay." He kissed her forehead.

"Can't believe that we're headed to the East Coast," she said.

"Me either." Parker said. "We'll see each other on weekends, right?"

"Yeah, you know Aunt Stacie will make that happen." She said.

"Yeah," he said. "We'll make it through."

"That we will." Taylor said looking up at him and kissing him softly.

* * *

Micah walked Cody out to his truck later that night, "I had a good time today," Cody said.

"Me too," Micah agreed with a small smile. "Let me know that you got home safely?"

"I'll call as soon as I get home," Cody said.

They stared in each other's eyes for a moment before they both leaned in to give each other a small kiss goodnight.

Micah pulled away smiling as did Cody. "I don't wanna ruin the moment, but that was my first kiss." Micah said.

"Yeah?" Cody asked pretty honored. Micah nodded as Cody kissed him one more time causing butterflies to erupt in his stomach.

"Yeah," Micah said.

Cody smiled and winked at him, "See you tomorrow at senior orientation." He said before getting in his truck and driving down the long driveway to the gate. Micah smiled like an idiot never wanting to leave that spot.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** The Micah-Cody relationship thing will be an ongoing journey.

This chapter seems really rough to me, so I hope you like it.

Also, I've gotten a couple of follows on tumblr, cool! And somebody asked what the OC main characters looked like in my head when I am writing them, so if you're curious to that or wanna talk about the story, head over there! **determined-or-something** with the tumblr stuff attached.

Alright, cool! See you around!


	11. What Love Is

**A/N:** Thanks for your support!

Sorry for the wait - I'm having a hard time adjusting to this new environment and didn't feel like writing for the past couple days. But, it's here now! Hope you enjoy!

Last scene **rated m for mature content.**

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven: What Love Is**

On Chloe and Micah's first day back at school, Chloe found her wife standing in the kitchen staring out the window with a cup of coffee. She came behind the music producer and wrapped her arms around her.

"Hi beautiful," Beca said.

"I missed waking up beside you this morning," Chloe mentioned.

"Yeah I went to the gym a little earlier this morning." Beca answered her wife's unspoken question.

"Oh, okay." Chloe said. "Where's Dani? I went in her room this morning and she wasn't there."

"Already at school," Beca said, "she said something to do with the project with Claire."

"It's 6 in the morning though," Chloe sighed, that name wasn't spoken in the house unless absolutely necessary, "Do you think she's doing alright?"

"I think that if she wasn't, she'd tell us." Beca said leaning against her wife. "And besides, they're trying to figure out why whatever is crashing is crashing. You know our daughter, she wants everything perfect."

A moment of silence came over them before Chloe said, "I miss Taylor."

"Me too," Beca said.

The high school graduate had been gone a week at that point and the moms had already gotten a few nervous breakdown phone calls where the moms had to remind her that she was doing the right thing. There were also nights where Beca missed her baby girl so much that Chloe had to hold her tight.

"There's a three hour time difference," Beca said. "It's 9 o'clock there. Do you think she's in class?"

Chloe pulled her phone out of her pajama pocket and looked at the picture of Taylor's class schedule, "Nope. She's on a two hour break. Let's call her." The redhead said.

Chloe dialed the number that belonged to their oldest and after a few rings. _"Hello?"_

Taylor's voice was soft, almost like she was already stressed out on her second week of school.

"Hi baby," Chloe said putting it on speaker, "it's me and Mama."

"Hi baby girl!" Beca said.

 _"Oh hi Moms."_

"You okay?" Chloe asked softly.

 _"Yeah. Just tired."_

"College already kicking your ass?" Beca asked.

 _"Basically, yeah."_

They shared a look, their normally, bubbly and school driven daughter sounded so down, so, dare they say it, _depressed._

"Lovey," Chloe said. "Talk to us."

 _"I just miss you two and the siblings. And for school being easy."_

They then heard a thump upstairs. _Right._ Beca thought. _We still have a son that's sleeping._

 _"What was that?"_

"Your brother falling out of bed for the first day of school." Chloe answered.

 _"Oh bubba."_

They talked for a few more minutes, even switching to FaceTime to see the girl and then Micah came into the kitchen mumbling something about coffee.

 _"Morning bubba."_

"Huh, what?" Micah still half-asleep. "Hey Tay."

 _"You seem exhausted. Late night?"_

"Yeah, I hate group projects," he mumbled then saying good morning to the moms by giving them a kiss on the cheek.

 _"So you finally agreed upon one?"_

"Yes." He said. "Coffee?"

"Right here baby," Beca said handing him a cup full.

"Oh thank god," he mumbled before saying, "I'm going up to get ready for school. Bye Tay!"

 _"Bye bubba!"_ When he walked out of the room, _"Does he seem more tense than normal?"_

"Yeah," Chloe said looking back to where he walked. "We got him babe."

"Don't worry," Beca said. "So, how's your first day going?"

* * *

Micah was driving himself and Chloe to school. It was silent with the exception of the radio on low and Micah's fingers hitting the steering wheel, a sign to Chloe that he was nervous about something.

At a stoplight, Chloe asked, placing a motherly hand on his thigh, "What's wrong?"

"Hm, what?" Micah snapped out of his zone.

"What's going through your head baby?" Chloe asked softly.

"Nothing, I'm just a little nervous, I guess." He admitted. "Senior year."

"I'm surprised you didn't go to senior sunrise this morning." Chloe said.

He shrugged, "I had a late night last night." He admitted.

He started to turn into the school's parking lot and asked, "Could you get my student parking pass thing out of the glove compartment?"

"Sure," Chloe said handing it to him and he hung it from his rearview mirror, "Hey."

"Yeah?" Micah said pulling into a parking space.

"No need to be nervous love." Chloe said. "Senior year will be a breeze for you. If you need me, come find me, okay?"

"Okay," he said, looking down.

Chloe lifted his chin up, "Talk to me." She said.

"I thought I could handle senior year."

"You can."

"Mom."

"You _can._ "

"I-"

"Say it."

"Mo-"

"Say. It."

Micah took a deep breath and mumbled, "I can handle senior year."

"I'm sorry, what?" Chloe asked not for one second thinking that he believed it. "I couldn't hear you..."

He took another deep breath, "I can handle senior year." He said with a little more confidence.

Chloe leaned over and kissed his forehead, "If I hear from any of my colleagues that you had any kind of panic attack and you didn't come find me, we're going to have a problem, mkay?"

"Yes ma'am." He said.

"Alright, now, _go_. Conquer your first day of senior year." Chloe said.

They both got out of the car and Micah locked it as they both with walking away, Cody came up to them as they stepped out of the parking lot onto campus, "Hey," he said. "Good morning Mrs. Mitchell-Beale."

"Good morning Mr. Adams." Chloe said. "You two have a good day, okay?" The both nodded and Chloe then went up to Cody and said, "If he has a panic attack around you today, bring him to me."

"Yes ma'am." He said. As she walked away, he then turned to Micah, "Morning handsome." He said softly.

"Morning." Micah said.

They found themselves alone, being one of the first people on campus, and Cody quickly leaned in to give him a good morning kiss. "Your mom seems to think that you'll have a panic attack."

"I'm just nervous." Micah admitted. "Senior year at South Los Angeles has been compared to hell."

"We'll make it through," he said. "You coming to the varsity soccer scrimmage today after practice?"

"Yeah," he said. "I think my mama is picking my mom up and they're going on a mother-daughter date with Dani." He added thinking back to their family meeting at dinner the night before.

"Cool," he said. "Are you getting ready to tell them about us?"

Micah chuckled, "Actually, I already have," he said. "Last night at our family meeting dinner."

"Yeah?" Cody said with a smile. "How'd they take it?"

Micah thought back and chuckled, he should've known that his two sisters and his mama were placing bets on it.

 _Family meetings at the Mitchell-Beale household always meant food. Mainly because Beca didn't understand why Chloe had a need for these ever since Taylor and Dani were old enough to understand what a schedule was._

 _Ever since Taylor left for Harvard, she'd join them on Skype or FaceTime, so they knew when and when not to call her. Then after that, they'd have dinner as a family even with technological version of Taylor in her sport at the table._

 _"So how's Cody?" Taylor asked._

 _Micah blushed, he knew he had to tell his family eventually, but he was still trying to figure out what it meant to be Cody's boyfriend._

 _"Uhh," the boy cleared his throat, "he's good."_

 _"Yeah?" Taylor said in a voice that said, 'We know the feelings you two share for one another.' Which ultimately caused him to cave._

 _"Actually, speaking of Cody, I do have an announcement." He said not looking up from his plate. Not wanting to see his family's facial expressions. "We're - we're dating."_

 _After a moment he looked up to see the smiles on his moms and sisters faces. The moment was then ruined by Beca placing her hand out to Dani saying, "Pay up princess." Dani fished out $10 from her pocket and then the music producer looked at Taylor and said, "You downloaded the cash app so we can transfer money to you right?"_

 _"Yeah..." Taylor said._

 _"I expect $20 bucks in my bank account by Wednesday." The music producer said._

 _Micah's eyes went wide, his family was betting on his love life? Chloe's eyes also went wide, she had specifically told her family not to bet on his love life._

 _"Really, you three?" Chloe said as Micah still sat frozen in his seat._

 _"C'mon on beautiful," Beca said, "you would've done it too."_

 _Chloe looked between her three of four of her favorite girls (Bailee becoming the fourth in her life) with a squint, "He was trying to figure things out. Like we were your sophomore year at Barden. Why would you bet against that?"_

 _"Okay," Beca said, in an attempt to calm her wife down. "Breathe because we may have bet money, but you and I bet backrubs."_

 _Micah hearing this snapped his head to Chloe, "Thank you honey," the redhead said to Beca. She then looked to her son and said, "Bubba, I'm sorry."_

 _Blinking, his eyes went from Beca to Chloe then to Taylor and Dani. "You all were betting on my love life?"_

 _"Yeah," they all said._

 _"I told your mama and sisters not to with money though." Chloe said._

 _"Why?" Micah asked._

 _"Because they shouldn't be betting with money anyway," Chloe said._

 _"No, why would the four of you bet on my love life?" He asked. "Especially you two," he gestured to the moms, "you knew I liked him."_

 _"Honey," Chloe said._

 _"For the record," Micah continued, "I would've done the same thing." He added in a voice that told the family that he wasn't really hurt._

 _Chloe threw her napkin at him, realizing that he was just being an ass._

"They all placed bets," Micah told his boyfriend. "And while initially, I was shocked and a little hurt. It's amusing to know that they care that much."

Cody smiled, "Your family is awesome."

"Yeah, how was your night?" Micah asked. "Sorry I didn't call back. Things with the group got out of hand."

"It's fine," Cody said understandingly. "And it was alright. Watched some Batman."

"Without me?" Micah said. "We were going to watch that together."

"I know," the blonde boy said, "but I was bored."

"Fine," Micah said, "don't ruin it for me though."

"I won't." The boy promised.

* * *

"Becaw," was heard through the offices of Legacy Records.

"Oh god no," Beca mumbled hearing the familiar voice. "Jesse? What are you doing here?"

"You didn't hear?" The man asked. "I'm signing with Legacy Records"

Beca's eyes went wide and then she said, "Excuse me one moment," she then made a beeline for Emily's office. Went in a quickly shut the door.

"Hey Beca," Emily said with a soft voice.

"You didn't tell me that Jesse Swanson was signing with us." Beca got out.

"We've been talking about it for weeks in staff meetings, Bec." Emily said, her voice still soft.

"Yeah, sorry, Chloe has been texting me a lot during staff meetings lately about Dani." Beca then noticed her business partner's somber tone. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I was trying to see if things would work out with Benji again." Emily said. "Y'know now that Parker's in college and he's not necessarily financially responsible?" Beca nodded. "But, last night when we were going to have dinner, he told me that he got another woman pregnant and wanted to 'do it right' with her and the child unlike what he did with me and Parker."

"That's a good thing, right?" Beca asked carefully. Benji was always a touchy subject for her.

"It is," Emily shot up and looked out the window to see the hustle and bustle of mid morning downtown Los Angeles. "But, I put my _fucking_ heart out on the line _again._ "

Beca suddenly grateful that she had shut the door behind her, but at the same time could use Chloe's softness right now. The one that she had when Emily showed up on their doorstep with a six year old Parker.

Beca then realized that other than her kids that the Junk family of two and even Aubrey were the only ones allowed to see a side of Beca that she hid from the world.

"The thing about love is that it's unpredictable," Beca started out remembering that Chloe had told her when they were in a post-coital cuddle session after an insecure Beca asked how could the redhead love her. "You wake up every morning and you want everything to be perfect. You want everything to work out, so that you don't have to pick up the pieces because picking up the shattering of your heart and putting it back together is scary, especially when doing it with a person you have so much history with and especially doing it alone. Love is messy and you don't want to put yourself out there, I get it. You don't want to feel alone. I understand. But, here's the thing, Legacy," the younger woman looked at the older woman for the first time, since she barged into her office, "You're not alone." Emily saw the soft smile on her face that's usually reserved for family only, "You have us. You have me and Chloe. And we're not going anywhere, okay?"

"That sounds like something Chloe would say," Emily said with tears in her eyes.

"She told it to me my junior year of college," Beca said. "I asked her how she could love me. Y'know, since everybody thinks I'm a bitch and stuff. She was the only one who saw passed it." Beca then stood up with her arms opened and said, "C'mere, legacy." Emily fond herself in a strong hug before listening to the last of what Beca said, "Everything will work out in its time and not a second longer or a second shorter. And you can't force it to happen either."

They stood there in a hug for a few moments before finally letting go. Emily wiped tears from her eyes and then said, "Thank you Bec."

Beca nodded, "It's what I'm here for." She said and then changing the subject, "Now, it looks as if we're going to sign my ex boyfriend to the label."

Emily's nose scrunched, "You dated Jesse Swanson?" She asked.

"Yeah, briefly, before I pulled my head out of my ass and found out that I was in love with Chloe Beale." She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Emily smiled, "Speaking of Chloe, do I need to start confiscating your phone during staff meetings?" She asked playfully.

"Only if you want me to sleep on the couch for three nights for not responding to her so-called _urgent_ texts." Beca said. "Half the time they aren't urgent, but I'm whipped and I don't like it when my wife is sad."

Emily chuckled as the two of them made their way into the conference room to sign Jesse and his band to the label.

* * *

"Mama, I'm really fine," Dani said after the fifth time Beca had looked at her in a thirty second period.

The moms had just picked her up from a therapy session and had just gotten a refill on her prescription when the girl willingly tucked herself into Beca's side as they sat on the beach for a picnic.

"I'm sorry princess," Beca said kissing her forehead. "I get worried."

"It's fine Mama," Dani said knowingly. She curled more into the music producer. "I'm okay. You know I feel the safest in your arms."

"That makes two of us," Chloe said kissing the music producer's cheek.

Beca smiled and looked lovingly into Chloe's eyes while holding their youngest daughter as close as humanly possible. Their gaze was ended by the text message ding in Chloe's purse. The redhead grabbed it to see that it wasn't her phone dinging it was Beca's. She then grabbed the brunette's phone and saw a text from Emily.

"Emily sent you a text." Chloe said handing her phone to Beca.

Beca took the phone and read the text:

 _[Legacy, August 17th, 6:54pm]: Probably should've sent this before I chugged a half a bottle of Jack, but thanks for earlier._

"Oh legacy," Beca murmured before typing out a reply.

 _[Beca, August 17th, 6:56pm]: Anytime legacy! Don't get too drunk - I need you to physically keep me from strangling Jesse and his hipster band in the morning!_

 _[Legacy, August 17th, 6:58pm]: No promises. And you should learn self-control, Mitchell-Beale!_

Beca chuckled at the response. "Is everything okay with Em?" Chloe asked looking at her wife, who had one arm wrapped around Dani and the other arm free and using the hand to text back the younger music producer.

"Not really, we'll talk about it later, if that's okay." Beca said not wanting Dani to hear what was going on with her Aunt Emily.

"Of course," Chloe said.

Beca put her phone back in Chloe's purse and raised her arm so that Chloe could cuddle into her. The three leaning back against the rock feeling peaceful. The two moms had so many questions for Dani, but they didn't want to bombard her with them until she was ready. What they didn't know is that she was.

"Claire said that he's getting seven years in prison." She said and felt Beca's arm tense around her.

"When?" Chloe asked.

"This morning when we met for the project. We finally figured out the code for it to stop crashing. It's amazing how if one little thing is off, how it could change the whole thing." She said playing with the hand that Chloe had on Beca's stomach, it happened to be her left hand, so Dani was playing with her engagement/wedding ring.

"How are you doing with that princess?" Beca asked softly. "We try not to ask to prevent triggering you, but we'd like to know."

Dani continued playing with Chloe's ring, she took a deep breath, and said, "I'm okay. I feel safer knowing that he's locked away." She admitted. Then tears flooded her eyes, "I was so scared."

"The night of?" Chloe asked softly, realizing that she was opening up to them.

"Yeah," the girl said. "I tried not to make any noise. I - I -"

Beca looked at her wife in a way to ask if it was okay to move, Chloe nodded, and Beca shifted to hold their youngest with both of her arms.

"I got you princess," Beca said as the girl started to cry.

The only time the girl's really broken down is when she initially told the family what had happened. She had panic attacks after nightmares, but then she'd stare into the distance with a dazed look on her face.

But, hearing that the man who caused her all this pain was behind bars, made her feel relieved and so emotional.

Beca rocked her back and forth and then once the girl calmed down she shifted her into Chloe's arms and Beca then wrapped her arms around Chloe. And they all sat there, and Dani took in the familiar smell of her mom, finally finding her peace.

* * *

 **This next scene is: NSFW; NC-17; Rated M. Mature Content ahead. In other words, advert your eyes kids. If you choose to skip it, that's fine. You will miss _nothing._**

* * *

Beca leaned in the doorway of their upstairs game room where she watched Micah and Dani play video games with Taylor and Parker who were all the way across the country in two different states.

She then felt her hair swept over her shoulder and small kisses, "Emily called," she then heard her wife whisper. "Told me that I have the best wife in the entire world."

"So she told you about everything?" Beca asked hoping not to have to tell her how much of a dick she thought Benji was. Though, it wouldn't be the first time.

"Yeah, she told me what you said," Chloe whispered directly into her wife's ear. "Have I ever told you how much of a turn on it is when your advice is what I said to you after you've pinned and _fucked_ me against the wall? Wanna reenact that right now?"

A shiver went down Beca's back when she then turned to her wife and pulled her out of the room and quietly, but forcefully pulled them into the master bedroom that fortunately was away from their kids playing video games.

Beca then pinned her wife against the door and said, "We have to be a little quieter because I don't know about you, but those two kids in there are already in therapy for traumatic events, don't need to add more to that trauma. They aren't our aca-sisters that we _wanted_ to traumatize."

"Stop talking and _fuck_ me please," Chloe gritted her teeth.

Beca then picked her wife up and went to the wall near the bathroom all while kissing Chloe's neck. The music producer's hand then went between them to unhook the dress pants that the music teacher wore to work. Beca then unzipped them and shoved them down her legs along with her underwear before slipping her hand into her waiting core. Chloe moaned as her wife's fingers started doing the work between her legs.

Beca then switched out her fingers with her tongue and started eating Chloe out. Beca suddenly glad that their room was soundproof for these occasions.

"Be - Bec - BECA!" Chloe all, but screamed.

Beca kept her tongue going in and out and her wife's hands were tugging at brunette hair as the redhead was still against the wall.

"Oh god," Chloe breathed out. "So close."

Beca took her time making her wife, who was still firmly against the wall, orgasm. Just like she did earlier in the relationship when she was just getting Chloe to relax after a Bella rehearsal.

"Oh god, oh god, I'm cumming." Chloe got out.

Beca heard this and immediately left her sport sucking on the redhead's clit and came up to kiss the woman bringing her down from her high. During this time she also brought Chloe to the bed. Stripping Chloe of the last of her clothing and stripped down herself.

When Chloe's breathing evened out, "You still got it," the redhead said as the brunette cuddled into her.

Beca chuckled, "I'd like to think so." She said. "I love you."

"I love you too." Chloe said. "Give me a second and I'll repay you."

"It's fine." Beca said. "As long as you're relaxed."

"No, believe me, I _want_ to." Chloe said. "Just need a minute."

The cuddled there for a moment, in the same position that they did all those years ago. Chloe playing with Beca's hair with the music producer's face buried into the music teacher's neck. Moments like this they cherish.

And when Chloe returned the favor several minutes later, Beca was happily on the receiving side with her hands clenched in red hair. They fell asleep in the normal position. Chloe tucked into Beca's side with her head on the brunette's chest.

The last thing Beca remembers thinking is how beautiful her wife was and how madly in love with her she was. _This._ Beca thought. _This is what love is._

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** Sooo yeah. I've already writing the next chapter and I'm already warning you. It's full of Bechloe fluff. Micah-Cody fluff. Dani agnst. And Mitchell-Beale family fluff.


	12. Mama's Princess, Mommy's Angel

**A/N:** Thank you for the support! Some of you asked for more Bechloe and more Micah-Cody - well this is full of it - plus some Dani development.

To the guest that doesn't think that the Dani situation was taking seriously - I'm sorry - I hope I can make it up by a side of Dani that nobody has seen yet.

* * *

 **Chapter Twelve: Mama's Princess, Mommy's Angel**

Chloe was eating lunch in her classroom and texting Beca. She actually was chuckling at the conversation she was having with her. The music producer was having trouble with her self-control when it comes to Jesse and the only person that could bring her for not lunging at the former Treble was her the redhead that barged into the shower, practically demanding her to audition for the Bellas before singing her _lady jam_ with her, and ultimately falling in love with her.

She then heard an unexpected knock at the door, "Come in," she called out.

"Hey Chloe," she looked up to see her boss standing there.

"Oh hi Michele. Come in." Chloe said. She quickly sent a text to her wife saying that she would have to talk to her later and to not punch Jesse in the face.

"Was I interrupting something?" Michele asked seeing the phone.

"Oh no," Chloe said. "My wife just signed one of her ex's to the label and is having a little trouble with her self-control right now."

"That sounds like an awkward situation," the principal sat at a desk in the front of the room in front of Chloe. "It's pretty big of you to have enough trust for your wife to be with her ex for hours on end."

Chloe shrugged, "She left him for me, so I still won." She said with a smile. "So, what's up?"

"You know that we just had to let go Riley, right?" The principal started.

"Yeah, such a shame." Chloe said.

"It was," Michele said, "and the school board is trusting me to help them find a replacement."

"That's cool," Chloe said not knowing where this was going, "so why are you here?"

"In your interview, straight out of your teaching credential program, you said that you applied because you want to make a difference in underprivileged students' lives." The principal said.

"I do and it's been a rewarding experience." Chloe said.

"What if you could do more?" The older woman asked.

"What do you mean?" Chloe asked, confused.

"What if you were the person I was thinking of when the school board asked me if I knew of anyone that I thought was right for the job?" The principal asked.

"Are you asking me-" Chloe couldn't quite finish the sentence.

"You helped me reform this music program," Michele said, "and the arts program in general. You have good, solid ideas, Chloe. I want you part of my admin team. You'll oversee all the things regarding music, dance, drama, and the arts in general. You could be the person we need. The person Riley wasn't. It would mean more hours on campus, but the outcome of that would be so worth it."

"Of course I want to," Chloe said, "but I really need to talk to my wife about it first. We have a lot going on at home right now. Could you give me a day or so to do that?"

"Of course, definitely!" The principal said. "I'll give you until the end of the week."

"Thank you, Michele." Chloe said. "I appreciate it."

Michele got up and walked towards the door and when she got there with her hand on the door handle, she turned around, "For the record, I think it's pretty honorable that you bring Beca in for all of you decisions. I wish my wife was like that." The woman then walked out of the room.

Chloe smiled, she knew the music producer wasn't happy when the redhead took the job here, but she always included her in all of her decisions.

* * *

"No," both Beca and Micah said at dinner that night that they had Cody over for dinner. "Absolutely not." They both added making Chloe, Dani, and Cody snicker.

Beca and Chloe felt bad for the boy, he was an emancipated minor, who, if he wasn't working, he ate alone. So they told him whatever meal he was eating alone that he should eat it with them.

"A double date isn't that bad," Cody said to Chloe's idea, earning a glare from both his boyfriend and his boyfriend's mama.

Chloe smiled at him and said, "Thank you, Cody."

"You were my favorite one of the kids' significant others now Parker is beating you. He would've never agreed." Beca said.

"Yeah and you're supposed to side with me," Micah, who noticeably had his arm around the back of Cody's chair, "not madre over here." He then gestured to Chloe with his head.

"Ah, good to know you're actually paying attention in Spanish, _mijo._ " Chloe said playfully. Then she turned to Beca, "We went on one with Taylor and Parker when they first started dating. In fact, we went on one once a week with them until they moved. What's wrong with continuing that with _all_ of our kids?"

"Once a week, double dates?" Micah's eyes went wide. "No. Not happening!"

"Bubba," Chloe said giving him puppy dog eyes that he can't say not to, "please?"

Micah didn't make eye contact with his mom, mainly because he didn't want to cave. Then Cody whispered only for him to hear, "For me?"

That's when Micah's eyes went wide, he knew _Beca_ was whipped for _Chloe_ , hell _he_ was whipped for Chloe, but he now knows what that feelings like - to be whipped for their significant other. He then looked up at his mom and took a deep breath, "Fine," he said.

"Good because we're making you drive too." Chloe said looking at her son. "That way I can get a glass of wine into your mama to get her to relax on these things."

"I just hate double dates, they're awkward." Beca said. "I don't care if they're with our kids and their significant others, they're still awkward."

Chloe kissed Beca's cheek before Micah said, "We just went on our like, what, third date?" He looked to Cody to confirm, "The other night and that was only so I could get this boy to shut up about our project for more than two seconds. But, we just had our third date, which, for the record, is my third date ever, and I still find that awkward sometimes, no offense dude." He said to his boyfriend.

Cody slightly grimaced, ever since they've gotten together, the blonde boy has made sure to call Micah, 'handsome,' 'babe,' or something along those lines and Micah has only ever called him dude. Like as if they were two friends that happened to find themselves making out every once in awhile.

That look didn't go unnoticed to Chloe, she then looked over to her son, who's arm was still around the back of the bench around the boy, she knew she shouldn't pry into what was going on in her son's boyfriend's head, but the maternal part of her didn't want to watch him suffer.

* * *

"Hey," Chloe said when she found Cody alone while Micah and Beca went to go get ice cream for all of them.

"Hi," Cody said looking up from his phone as Chloe sat next to him. "Dinner was good, thank you."

"You're welcome honey," Chloe said. "Are you okay?"

"Of course, never better." Cody said.

"I saw the face you made when Micah called you 'dude.' You sure you're okay?" Chloe asked.

"He never - he doesn't -" Cody was having a hard time figuring out what he wanted to say. "He always calls me 'dude.' Even when it's just the two of us and it's stupid because I know he has feelings for me because I see how he looks at me when we're studying thinking I don't notice. I see how his face lights up every single time I walk into the room."

"But?" Chloe said knowing it was coming.

"But, I'd like some cute, sappy nickname in return, y'know?"

Chloe smiles, oh how she knows.

"When Beca and I first started dating and even still sometimes now, she called me 'dude.' And I glared at her every time she did. At least ever since we started dating."

"Really?" Cody asked. "I've never heard her call you anything except beautiful and your name."

"She's learned, but it still slips out of her mouth every once and a while." Chloe said.

"How'd you talk to her about it?" Cody asked.

Chloe thought back to them cuddling on the couch at the Bella house and talking to her about it.

 _"Hey baby?" Chloe asked from her place buried in Beca's neck._

 _Beca kissed her forehead and said, "Yeah?"_

 _"Do you think we could talk about something?" Chloe asked._

 _"Of course," Beca said. "What's up?"_

 _"Why do you still call me dude?" The redhead asked._

 _"Habit, I guess." Beca said playing with red hair._

 _"Well could you make it a habit to call me something else? You calling me 'dude' makes me feel like we're just friends." Chloe said softly. "And we're not just friends."_

 _Chloe felt lips on her temple, she closed her eyes, realizing that Beca knew it bothered her. "I'm sorry. I won't call you 'dude' anymore. It'll probably slip, but I'll try my hardest not to." She whispered._

 _"That's all I ask." Chloe said looking down._

"We talked about it," Chloe said. "It took her awhile of correcting herself and she still has moments where she calls me dude, but then quickly kisses my cheek and calls me beautiful instead. It's always going to be a work in progress."

"I feel bad about making such a big deal out of it," Cody said. "I know that the feelings we have for each other are mutual."

"You should talk to him, I'm sure he doesn't mean it." Chloe said.

"Hello?" Beca called out indicating that she and Micah were back. "We come with ice cream."

"In the living room," Chloe called back. "One of you have to convince Dani that she wants ice cream."

"I'll do it," Micah said. "I know what'll get her down."

Beca walked into the room and saw Cody looking down at the ground sitting next to him, the brunette wasn't stupid, she knew she walked into something.

"Do I need to give you two a minute?" Beca asked holding their ice cream in her hands.

"No, no," Chloe said, "we were finished."

"Yeah, Beca, I want my ice cream!" Cody said playfully. "Don't take my ice cream away!"

"Okay, okay!" Beca said. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Chloe said in a voice that said, 'we'll talk about it later.'

"Okay," Beca said as their two kids came into the room.

"I said that I didn't want ice cream," Dani whined.

"Are you sure you're our kid?" Beca asked. "You sure this is our kid, Chlo?"

"I dunno if I wanna claim a kid that says she doesn't want ice cream," Chloe said.

Dani rolled her eyes, "I was just going to finish homework and go to bed," she mumbled.

Beca looked at her watch, "It's only 7:30." The music producer said. "And I know you don't have a lot of homework."

"I'm tired," Dani mumbled. "I've been up since four."

Beca wrapped an arm around her daughter, she didn't know what was wrong, but at least she could be there for her to lean into.

"So, uh, like this double date thing." Micah said.

"What about it bub?" Chloe asked scooping ice cream in her mouth.

He was looking over at Cody and suggested, "What about Friday?"

Cody gave him a death glare, one that the three females in the room couldn't help, but wonder why he was so irritated by it.

"Yeah, I think Friday should work," Beca said. "Does it work for you Cody?"

"Works fine," Cody muttered.

"Are you sure buddy?" Chloe asked. He didn't sound at all thrilled with the idea.

"I'm positive," Cody said softer. "Friday's just my birthday and _he_ knows that," he added gesturing to his boyfriend.

"Oh," Chloe said. "You don't like your birthday either?"

"No," he said. "For similar reasons to why he doesn't."

"I think Friday would be good," Beca said eyeing her wife who silently agreed. "We won't make a big deal out of your birthday, but we'll still celebrate it a little. Birthdays are a great way to celebrate the day you were born, who you are to us, and who you are in this world." The last line was something Chloe had said to her in the first year of their relationship to get the brunette to let her celebrate with her.

The couple shared a smile with each other as their two kids squinted at their mama before they both said at the same time, "That sounds like something Mom would say."

"It is," Chloe said with tears in her eyes. She _knew_ that Beca loved her. The music producer always told and showed that to her, but it's moments like this. Where she randomly tells people the same things the music teacher told her to get those walls down that she knows how much Beca loves her and that made her heart swell.

* * *

"So is everything really okay with Cody?" Beca asked as Chloe sat between her legs as the two of them were enjoying a bath together later that night after Cody had gone home.

"Y'know sometimes I think that you really did give birth to Micah." The redhead said as Beca rubbed the tension of the day out of her shoulders.

"What now?" Beca asked with a chuckle. It was an ongoing joke between the two of them that he was a great mixture of the both of them.

"He keeps calling his boyfriend dude." She said taking a sip of the wine they had opened to enjoy a romantic, relaxing bath.

Beca chuckled and kissed the side of Chloe's neck. "Wow. I kinda wasn't expecting that." Beca said. "Do I need to talk to him?"

"No," Chloe said. "I told Cody to."

"Okay," Beca said continuing massaging Chloe's tense shoulders. "Damn babe, it's only the third week of school and you're already so tense? What are those monsters doing to you?"

"For the millionth time, could you stop calling my students monsters?" Chloe asked. "Our son is one of my students."

"Like I said," Beca said playfully. Before turning soft, "What's wrong beautiful?" She whispered soothingly.

Chloe took a deep breath, "You remember Riley Stevens right? The vice principal?" Chloe asked.

"The one that worked directly above you? Yeah, of course. She always welcomes me on campus with a smile." Beca said.

"Well, she uh, she was just recently fired." Chloe said.

"What? Why?" Beca asked.

"I don't really know. They didn't tell us." Chloe said.

"Oh wow, I'm sorry." Beca said kissing her wife's temple.

"Michele asked me if I wanted to take the position," Chloe said. "She said when the board asked her if there was anybody that she knew that would be good for the position and the first person she thought of was me. I told her I'd have to talk with you about it first."

"Do you want it?" Beca asked.

"I do," Chloe said. "I know I'm making a difference with the kids where I'm at, but I'd be making more of a difference if I was in administration. Sure, I wouldn't be always directly working with the students, but I'd be making a huge difference."

"So then what's stopping you from taking it?" Beca asked. "You know I'll support you no matter what. So will the kids."

"It means longer hours, more meetings, and maybe a little more stress." The redhead said.

"We'll work it out," Beca said.

"I'm just worried because you already work long hours." Chloe said. "And as much as she wants to push us away, Dani needs at least one of us."

"So, I'll take a break, pick her up from wherever she's at, and take her back to the studio with me." Beca said. "Beautiful," she whispered, "you deserve this. The impact you could be making on the students of South Los Angeles High School could be what that school needs. Was I happy when you said you got a job there right out of your teaching credential program at UCLA? No, I wasn't. I was worried about your safety. Especially when you were pregnant with Taylor. But, you get up every morning with the intention of changing young lives for the better. I've seen it firsthand with Micah and I'm now seeing it firsthand with Cody. I'll ask it again, do you want this position?"

"More than anything," Chloe said.

"Then take it," Beca said. "You give up a lot for me. It's time for me to give you what you want."

Chloe turned around to give her wife a kiss, "I love you, Bec."

"I love you too, Chlo." They lied there in the tub for awhile, kissing, enjoying the time that they had together.

* * *

Beca and Chloe then told their three kids about the position. They wanted to make sure that the entire family was on board, they especially wanted to make sure that Micah was okay with it.

 _"I'm a senior," Micah said. "So, I'm cool with it. Just as long as the same rules apply. I want absolutely no special treatment."_

 _"Of course, the only thing that'll change is my job title," Chloe said._

Chloe walked into her boss' office that Friday and said, "I'll do it."

The principal's face lit up, "I'll let the board know and we'll start the interview process. First interview is on Wednesday, is that okay?"

"Do you think I have a shot?" Chloe said.

Michele nodded, "I do think so." She said. The older woman than looked over Chloe's shoulder to make sure nobody was listening, "And between you and me, there's no one else in the running. It's _just_ you. I told them who I had in mind and they agreed with me immediately. The interview is just following protocol. You were meant to be a world changer, Mitchell-Beale."

Chloe smiled, "Thanks, I better get back to my classroom now," she said as the warning bell rang.

When Chloe left the principal's office on her way back to her classroom, she ran into her son, "Hey," he said. "So?"

"I have an interview on Wednesday," she said.

The boy looked around before surprising his mom with a big bear hug, "Congratulations!"

Chloe wasn't expecting the hug, but hugged him back, "Thanks baby. Where are you off to now?"

"It's my free period and also everybody in my group's. So to go spend a period mentally strangling a bunch of seniors." He said.

Chloe quickly kissed her son's cheek, "Love you."

"Love you too, tonight right? For the double date?" He asked. "We're still doing that thing, right?"

"Yeah," Chloe said. "Now, go. And have some self-control!"

"Yes ma'am," he said saluting her before walking away.

Chloe shook her head as she watches her son head toward the library, he was just like Beca, he really was their missing puzzle piece.

* * *

Dani was having a bad day - like a _really_ bad day. It started with her missing her alarm and having to rush around to get ready and when Micah dropped her off on the way to school with Chloe because Beca had an early meeting at the studio, the girl should've known that it was going to get worse.

She spilt her coffee on her way to her locker having to trade out Eastwind blazers to not reek of coffee all day. Then she went into her English class to get an essay that she thought she did well on to see she got a C- on it. Then during her second period history class, she thought she had seen Adam. To say the least, by lunch time, she was going into a full blown panic attack and had to get to a secluded area.

No way in hell she was calling one of her moms to calm her down, at this point, they'd show up to Eastwind and that would embarrass her more. No way she was calling one of her siblings because they would just tell one or both of the moms.

As she sat there, doing the breathing exercises that her therapist taught her out to do, she heard someone call her name.

She looked up to see Isaiah standing there giving her space, but still wanting to know if she was okay.

"Go away, Zay." Dani said.

"Are you okay?" He asked not going away.

"Go away, Zay." She said again.

"I'm not going away until I know you're okay and if you're not okay, I'll call one of your moms and take you to the nurse." He said.

"I'm fine," she snapped. "Go away."

"Dani," he said, "you gotta stop pushing us all way. We're not going anywhere. Let us in."

Her wall broke down, the wall she had put up over the last few months, shattered down to the ground in a million pieces. The boy then tentatively stepped forward and wrapped her in strong arms. They were best friends and he wasn't going to watch her fall apart and not do anything about it. He held her close for the rest of lunch not knowing what was to come.

* * *

Beca rushed into Eastwind Academy's nurse's office - she had gotten a call that Dani had a really bad panic attack and couldn't come out of the post-panic attack daze that she was in. And was sent to the headmaster's office, but the moment the man saw her, he knew she wasn't wanting to cause trouble. The moms had warned him of what happened and that she could go into a panic attack at any point and that they knew what was wrong.

"Oh princess," Beca breathed as she walked in to see the girl lying down with her arm over her face.

"Hi Mama," Dani got out not even looking out from under her arm.

Beca pulled the girl into the sitting position into her lap, "What happened?" The music producer asked softly.

Dani buried herself into Beca, "I - I had a really bad day and then I thought I saw him." She said. "I thought - I thought -"

Beca rocked the girl back and forth, soothing her, something she had gotten better at ever since finding out what happened to her. The nurse had give the mother and daughter privacy, saying that they could take as much time as they needed. Dani cried into Beca's chest and kept saying that she thought she saw him.

Once the crying dwindled down, Beca placed a kiss on her head, and whispered, "What can I do? To make your day better? To get his face out of your mind?"

"Just hold me." Dani said.

Beca did just that - she held her baby girl - and noticed how thin she was getting. Getting the girl to eat was still like pulling teeth, and as much as she wanted to ask her if she had eaten lunch today, Beca just held her.

* * *

"Just make sure she eats something, okay?" Beca said to Aubrey and Emily who had come over for some Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily time with Dani while they went out on their double date with Micah and Cody. Sure the girl probably could only do with one aca-aunt, but if Beca let Emily go home and chug another thing of Jack, she wouldn't be okay with herself - this thing with Benji really was messing with the younger music producer.

"We know, Mitchell-Beale," Aubrey said. "She just needs somebody told her, not a babysitter."

"I'm sorry," Beca said. "I worry, like, a lot."

"We get it Bec," Emily said, "but we also know how to take care of her."

"Yeah, Emily and I have it covered." Aubrey said. "Go on now."

"Please," Emily added.

"Moms," Micah came in with Cody, both in nice jeans and button ups with dress shoes, "we have a reservation, we're going to be late. Dani's in good hands."

"C'mon Bec," Chloe said. "The boys are waiting."

Beca was staring at Dani, the girl was watching a soccer game on tv, and the woman didn't want to leave her. She then looked at her son who had a hopeful look on her face. She knew she couldn't bail on them. She had done that too many times before with her son, especially recently. She knew he understood, but they had planned something special for Cody's birthday and she knew she couldn't let him down. She then turned to her two aca-sisters and said, "If anything happens-"

"We'll call you, I promise." Aubrey said. "But, you can't bail on him anymore." She said for only the two of them to hear, "Especially not tonight."

"Okay," Beca said then going to her daughter. "Bye princess," she whispered kissing the girl's forehead.

"Bye Mama." She said as Chloe came behind her.

"Bye angel." Chloe said.

"Bye Mommy." She said as Chloe kissed her head. "Bye bubba and Cody." She then turned her head over to the boys.

"Bye bud!" Micah said swinging the keys in his hand. "Bye aca-aunts."

"Bye Dani," Cody said as his boyfriend said goodbye to the aca-aunts. "Bye Emily and Aubrey."

"Bye Cody," Emily said.

"Wait, young man, c'mere," Aubrey said motioning the boy to her, "I know Beca hasn't given you this talk yet because Chloe has told her not to, but Micah is our nephew, aca-nephew, sure, but still our nephew." She said gesturing between her and Emily. "And we've already seen how life has dealt him a shitty hand..."

"...so you hurt him, we hurt you, understand?" Emily finished Aubrey's statement.

"Ye - yes ma'ams." He got out.

"Yo aca-aunts, stop threatening my boyfriend, we have to go." Micah said noticing how stiff he was.

Micah then came up and wrapped his arm around Cody's shoulders and guided him out the door with Beca and Chloe in tow.

Aubrey and Emily then looked at each other before looking at their shared niece. "You think we can do this?" Emily asked nervously.

"We don't have a choice," Aubrey said. "If this doesn't work, rehab is where she'll be going."

Beca and Chloe knew that Dani would open up more to her aunts than they would them - they didn't take it personally, they knew their shared worried nature scares the girl away. But, somebody has to give a chance and both Aubrey Posen and Emily Junk were willing to give it a shot.

"I'll go order the pizza," Emily said. "You go cuddle with her."

"Okay," Aubrey said.

Emily went into the kitchen to order Dani's favorite pizza and Aubrey went back into the living room to cuddle with the girl and have her explain soccer to the lawyer because it was the simple things keeping the soccer player from going over the cliff right now.

* * *

The car was pretty quiet minus the radio that was playing. Micah was driving, Cody next to him, Beca sat behind Micah with her arm around Chloe who was sitting in the middle seat so that she could cuddle with her wife.

"What is that song even about?" Micah asked Beca after a band's song that Beca produced finished. "Did they ever tell you?"

"It's about love and death." She said. "The lead singer lost his wife right as they were cutting the album. Emily helped him write it."

"It's so sad," Cody said. "I mean the circumstances were probably not any better, but still."

"Yeah, when he came in and told us, I was shocked. And when he asked Emily to help him write a song about it, I knew it would be sad. I didn't think it'd play on the radio every hour, but I can imagine it helps the people who are dealing or have dealt with the same thing."

"My dad committed suicide shortly after my papa died in the war." Cody said. And the three of them realized they had never asked why he was in the foster care system before emancipating. "I'm glad the guy wrote a song to help himself and other people instead of doing that."

"You had two dads?" Micah asked at a stoplight a few moments later.

Cody nodded, "It's not something I talk about often." He said. "I went into the foster care system right after that because neither family approved of their marriage."

Chloe put a hand on his shoulder and said, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Beca cleared her throat, "Yeah, like, it's your birthday." The music producer said.

As Micah started to go from through the green light, he placed a hand on his boyfriend's thigh, in a way of saying, _'We're here.'_

"It's fine." Cody said.

Chloe saw the hand that was on the blonde boy's thigh, she knew Cody still had yet to talk to him about the whole dude thing, but the fact that he had yet to and he was being so loving towards Cody, made Chloe realize that no matter what Micah called his boyfriend, he was just like Beca. Loving, caring, and supportive.

Just then an old song came onto the radio, a song that both Beca and Chloe would rock out to when they first moved to LA from Georgia. And that Beca and Micah still rocked out to this day. The driver quickly turned up the radio before placing it back on Cody's thigh and looked at Beca through the rearview mirror. And the mama and son started singing the song:

 _I lock myself in a hotel room_  
 _Been waiting all night for the walls to move_  
 _I've loved some girls that I barely knew_  
 _I've made some friends, and I've lost some too_

Chloe rolled her eyes at the two, _every_ time this song came on the two had to sing it pretty loudly and a little off key. Cody actually sat in awe, he knew that Micah sometimes felt like he didn't fit into the Mitchell-Beale family and to watch him so freely sing a song from Beca and Chloe's early post-grad days made him smile.

 _Crashed my car, I was 17_  
 _My mother in the seat riding next to me_  
 _The things I've learned from a broken mirror_  
 _How a face can change when a heart knows fear_  
 _Through all the things my eyes have seen_  
 _The best by far is you_

When they sung _'the best by far is you,'_ they both turned to their respective significant others and sang it to them. Making Chloe roll her eyes again and Cody chuckle.

 _If I could fly_  
 _Then I would know_  
 _What life looks like from up above and down below_  
 _I'd keep you safe_  
 _I'd keep you dry_  
 _Don't be afraid Cecilia_  
 _I'm the satellite_  
 _And you're the sky_

Chloe found herself softly singing with them, sure it was a thing that Beca and Micah did, but she couldn't help it when they were being like this. She tried to act like it was annoying, but deep down she knew that her love and one of their loves bonding was the best thing in the world.

 _I've cafe crawled through Amsterdam_  
 _I've been around the world with a punk rock band_  
 _And I've seen London, and I've played Japan_  
 _I've been knocked down, I got up again_  
 _For all the places I have been_  
 _I'm no place without you_

When _'I'm no place without you'_ was sung, Chloe felt a shoulder squeeze from her wife and placed her head on the music producer's chest, meanwhile, Cody felt a squeeze on his thigh. Sure, the younger couple hadn't exchanged, _'I love yous'_ yet, it was too soon. But, Micah knew he wouldn't be the somewhat more confident person he had been becoming without Cody.

 _If I could fly_  
 _Then I would know_  
 _What life looks like from up above and down below_  
 _I'd keep you safe_  
 _I'd keep you dry_  
 _Don't be afraid Cecilia_  
 _I'm the satellite_  
 _And you're the sky_

By the second chorus, Chloe and Cody had joined in with the singing making both Beca and Micah smile.

 _I'm the satellite_  
 _And you're the sky_

 _For all the things my hands have held_  
 _The best by far is you_

 _If I could fly_  
 _Then I would know  
_ _What life looks like from up above and down below  
_ _I'd keep you safe  
_ _I'd keep you dry  
_ _Don't be afraid Cecilia  
_ _I'm the satellite  
_ _And you're the sky  
_

 _And you're the sky_

 _I'm the satellite_  
 _And you're the sky_

 _And you're the sky_

When the song finished Micah had pulled into the restaurant's parking lot, Cody looked up at the place and inwardly sighed. _Of course, they'd take my to the best steak restaurant in LA._ He thought.

* * *

"Monkey, please eat." Aubrey said trying to get the girl to eat.

"I'm not hungry," she mumbled.

Emily moved from her side to in front of her, "Look, you not eating is not an option tonight or ever. You've got your moms worried sick."

Dani stood up, almost lost her balance before getting it again, "For the love of everything that is good, leave it be."

"Hey," Aubrey said watching Emily's face deflate a little. "No, get your ass back here now." As the girl had made it halfway to the kitchen.

Dani stopped, but she didn't turn around, "Look honey, we know life has dealt you a shitty hand," Emily said gaining more confidence. "And we wish we could change that, but you can't just _not_ eat. That's not an option."

"If you don't eat, I'll hand feed you like I did when I watched you as a baby." Aubrey said.

Dani then continued walking into the kitchen and started lose her balance and quickly grabbed onto the counter, many thoughts going through her head.

 _Good going, idiot! Your moms are worried about you._

 _You're not even worth it anyway._

 _You're a burden to this entire family._

 _Dealt a shitty hand? MICAH was dealt a shitty hand in those foster homes._

 _You should just get out of here while you can._

 _They're better off without you._

And that's when she slipped passed the living room where her aunts were watching tv, most likely waiting for her to come back. She quietly slipped her shoes on and then quietly slipped out the door, walking down the long driveway and through the gate the guarded the Mitchell-Beale family from the rest of the world.

Dani looked over her shoulder one last time before letting the gate shut behind her, walking the streets of Hollywood Hills into Los Angeles at 9 o'clock on a Friday night wasn't what she had planned, but -

 _My family is better off without me._

* * *

"You guys," Cody said during desert, "you didn't have to do this."

"Nonsense," Chloe said. "We wanted to."

Cody made an uncomfortable face, "Don't worry," Micah said, "I've been in this family close to two years and I'm still trying to get used to it."

Cody smiled and cuddled into the arm that was wrapped around his shoulders, _Yeah._ Cody thought. _I could fall in love this guy._

"So," Beca cleared her throat, "there is something the three of us want to talk to you about."

"What's that?" Cody asked.

"We know life has dealt you a rough hand," Beca said. "And from hearing a little about how you got into the foster care system on the drive here, we knew what we have decided as a family was the right move."

"We want to take some financial responsibilities off of your plate," Chloe said. "For one, we want you to move into our pool house."

"That's like super nice of you, but what about me and Micah? Like you're asking me to move in with my boyfriend and his family not even a month into our relationship."

"There'll be some ground rules," Beca said. "But, we want to know that you're safe at night."

"What makes you think that I'm not safe at night," Cody said looking at his boyfriend's parents then looking over at Micah who had a guilty look on his face.

"I may have told them that you live in Compton," Micah said. "I was a little late for curfew one night and I told them I had to drive you home because your truck broke down and you wouldn't let me pay for a cab or uber. I'm sorry."

Cody softened, noticing the softness of his boyfriend's voice, "It's fine baby," he said back kissing Micah's cheek.

"Another thing," Beca said, "we're getting you another used car."

"Beca-" Cody tried.

"No believe me," Chloe said, "don't fight her on it."

"We want to know that you're safe and that you're eating a proper meal. You have a scholarship to play soccer at West Point, right?" Cody nodded. "Then please, let us take care of you. You still can work and you can help out around the house to pay your rent, but we want you to still manage to be a teenager while you can."

Cody looked from Beca to Micah, who was staring right back at him with a smile, "Is this what you want?" Cody asked him.

"Every night, I lie in bed hoping that you're safe. Hoping that the drug dealers in your apartment complex haven't done something incredibly stupid that would end up hurting you. Will it be a huge step in our relationship? Yeah, but the worry in the pit of my stomach of you being there. We haven't been together very long, but I want you safe."

Cody swallowed the lump in his throat, tears in his eyes, "Okay," he said looking back over at Beca and Chloe, "thank you."

"Let's get you moved in this weekend." Beca said. "I'll pay for whatever it takes to terminate your lease immediately."

Just as they fell into a comfortable silence, Chloe's phone rang, she looked at it and said, "It's Aubrey, hold on."

They all watched Chloe walk away from the table and Micah noticed how Beca was checking her out and kicked her, "Ow," Beca said looking over at him.

"Look, I love that you and Mom are like madly in love or whatever, but could you not check her out in front of us?" The boy asked.

"Not even gonna comment on how you were doing that to Cody the other night," she said as he blushed.

They fell into a silence until Chloe came back with a tense, frozen posture, "You alright, Chloe?" Cody asked.

"Dani ran away." She said slowly, not wanting to believe what she was hearing.

"What?" The other three exclaimed.

"Dani ran away," Chloe said having the words sunk in.

* * *

"Do you think we should go check on her?" Emily asked. "She's been in there for twenty minutes."

"Yeah, let's go." Aubrey said getting off the couch. They both walked into the kitchen and saw that it was empty, "Hm, she may have went up to her room."

They both walked up to the girl's room to find that empty and then something not right fell in the pit of both their stomachs and as they searched the entire house and Mitchell-Beale property and couldn't find her, they both met in the kitchen with stiff posture and Emily stated the obvious, "She ran away."

"She couldn't have," Aubrey said. "Call her phone."

Emily pulled out her phone and dialed her number and it went straight to voicemail, _"Hey, yeah, this is Dani Mitchell-Beale, I'm obviously not available or ignoring you right now. Leave a message."_

"I - I - I'll call her." Aubrey got out grabbing her phone and dialing the familiar number.

 _"Hey, yeah, this is Dani Mitchell-Beale, I'm obviously-"_

"Damn it!" Aubrey said. "I - I'll call Chloe." She added dialing Chloe's number.

 _"Hey Bree, is everything okay?" Chloe answered._

"We got into an argument about her not eating and then she went into the kitchen and we figured she just needed space and then - then twenty minutes later, we went to check on her and she wasn't there and then we checked everywhere and we couldn't find her."

 _"Okay, breathe," Chloe said softly. "Are you sure that she ran away?"_

"I don't know what else would have happened and she's not answering her phone either!" Aubrey exclaimed, worry evident in her voice.

 _"Alright, it's okay, we'll drive around and try to find her okay? You two stay there." Chloe said worry taking over in her voice._

"I'm so sorry, Chlo." Aubrey said.

 _"It's not your fault." Chloe said. "You didn't know your conversation with her would drive her away."_

"I just hope you can find her." Aubrey said letting out a sob.

She then looked across the counter to Emily who looked just as guilty as the lawyer felt. They had to find the girl.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** I know. I _know._ I gave you a long chapter with a cliffhanger. Please don't hate me. I've got plans for this family!

Also, don't own that song I used in here. I was driving home the other night and thought about doing that. So that song belongs to its rightful owners!


	13. Wanna Come Home

**A/N:** This chapter sorta of got away from me.

Also, sorry for the wait. A lot of personal stuff came up. Needless to say, I've been in this new city for a little over a month, and exactly one month after I moved, I had an adult version of what Riley Anderson in _Inside Out_ went through. If you haven't seen the movie yet, essentially I realized how much I missed my hometown, got shitface drunk, and had a meltdown. Then school started, how I'm going to make it through this semester with more than one kind of mental breakdown is beyond me. Full load and an internship? Yeeeahhh.

Anyway, here we go!

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen: Wanna Come Home**

Beca was pacing the master bedroom a week later.

All she could think of was Dani. Her princess was still missing. Her princess was still out somewhere in the cold, cruel world. Whether she's dead or alive, all the brunette could think of is how she wanted to hold that girl in her arms and kiss the pain away.

"Beca, you're making me dizzy." Chloe said from working on her laptop on the bed.

The music producer hadn't noticed the woman in the room until she said something.

"I'm sorry." Beca said. "I'm worried."

"Me too." Chloe said shutting the laptop, pushing it to the side. "C'mere please. I wanna cuddle with you."

As Beca made her way to her wife's arms, Chloe smiled. It wasn't often that the music producer let her wife hold her, but the redhead smiled and kissed the top of the brunette's head.

After a few minutes, they heard a knock on the door, "Come in," they both called.

Micah poked his head into the room with his lip between his teeth. "What's up bubba?" Chloe asked.

"Uh, why am I getting text messages from both Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily asking if you two are okay? Why aren't they talking to you directly?" He asked, they could sense the anger in his voice. He hadn't talked to either of them since the night of her disappearance.

Chloe gestured for him to come cuddle into her other side and he walked over and crawled to curl into her side, "They're currently afraid of me and your mama right now because they feel like it's their fault."

"It kinda is though," Micah mumbled.

"No, it's not." Chloe said.

"You don't push somebody to their breaking point and expect them to be okay." Micah argued.

Chloe pulled him a little closer and kissed his temple, "Relax." she whispered.

Micah buries his face in her chest and Beca changes the subject, "When does Cody get off of work tonight?" She asks.

"9:30," he answered, playing with the dog tag that Aubrey got him for his birthday.

Cody had moved in two days after Dani's disappearance while Chloe got the vice principal job on the spot three days later. They knew they had to find Dani, but they also knew that they had to keep living too.

Beca's phone dinged as they sat and cuddled just the three of them. Beca, who's face was buried in Chloe's arm, moved to grab it.

"Who's texting you?" Chloe asked.

"Legacy." Beca said softly. Another ding. "And Aubrey." She added.

Micah, who was pretty angry at both of his aunts, got up and out of the bed upon hearing that, much to Chloe's dismay.

"Bubba, come back here." Chloe somewhat whined. "I wanna cuddle with you!"

Beca looked up from her phone to see the boy now standing at the sliding glass door to the balcony outside their room. She sensed what was going on. Beca quickly kissed her wife's cheek. She hears the pout as she gets up and goes to their son.

"Honey," Beca says softly. "What's wrong?"

Micah is looking at the lights of the city, they were always twinkling, "My English teacher today was quoting some tv show from the early 2000s - like when you two were probably in high school. And we were talking about darkness and life. She then showed us a clip from that tv show and there was one of the main characters and he read this poem thingy that really stuck with me. It was, _'Does this darkness have a name? This cruelty, this hatred, how did it find us? Did it steal into our lives or did we seek it out and embrace it? What happened to us that we now send our children into the world like we send young men to war, hoping for their safe return, but knowing that some would be lost along the way. When did we lose our way? Consumed by the shadows. Swallowed whole by the darkness. Does this darkness have a name? Is it your name?_ ' It just got me thinking of Dani, y'know?"

"One Tree Hill," both Beca and Chloe said.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Micah said. "After that, I've been trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Why would she run? I thought about running in the foster care system and if my social worker wasn't so goddamn adamant that she was going to put me in my forever home, I would've. But, you two taught me that running away from my problems doesn't solve them. Why would she run?"

"I'm not sure bubba." Beca said wrapping her arms around him.

"Why would they push her?" Micah asked.

"They want the best for you kids, y'know?" Beca said. "They thought they were helping not driving her away."

"How are you two not mad?" Micah asked. "That's your baby."

"Getting mad isn't going to bring her back faster." Beca said tightening her arms around the boy. "Come on," she then said, "Mom wants to cuddle with us and you know we can't resist Mom's pout for much longer."

* * *

Cody was at the end of his shift at the diner he worked at near his old apartment in Compton. He was bussing a table when someone walked in the door. He hadn't fully looked up when he said, "Welcome to Reagan's Diner," he then looked up to see a familiar figure. "Dani," he breathed.

The two had a staring match for a few seconds and then something sparked up inside Dani.

The girl's eyes bugged out, she had been eating every other day to keep energy up, she didn't know that Cody worked in this diner. She quickly ran out of the diner and before he could see which direction the girl was going.

"God damnit!" He said coming back into the diner.

"Is everything okay?" One of his co-worker's asked.

"No," the boy said. "That was Dani Mitchell-Beale."

Everyone in the entire universe knew she was missing being one of Beca's daughters. He knew he would be beating himself up until she came home.

"We should call the LAPD. Let them know she's in the area." The co-worker said.

"I'll call Beca and Chloe." Cody said. His co-worker rose an eyebrow. "I'm dating their son." He said.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed his boyfriend's number as she called the LAPD, "Hi babe, it's me. Uh yeah, there's a situation at work."

* * *

Dani was running, she didn't know where to, but she couldn't believe that all the diners she would've walked into was the one her brother's boyfriend worked at. She knew he'd contact the family and she'd be a goner.

 _I can't believe this is happening._ Dani thought. _This can't be happening._

 _Why did I run? Why did I think my family is better off without me._

 _It's not true._

She kept running. _I miss home. I miss mommy snuggles. I miss mama snuggles. I miss home._

 _I miss home._

 _I need to get home._

She heard the police activity, but she kept running, but with the lack of food she's had over the last day and a half, she collapsed and passed out. She didn't know how long she was there on the ground for until she heard someone yell, "Call 911!"

* * *

The LAPD was searching the entire city of Compton while Beca, Chloe, Micah, and Cody sat at a booth with Aubrey and Emily. The four women sitting in one both and the two boys sitting in the one behind Beca and Chloe. The lawyer and the younger music producer with worried bottom lips between their teeth.

"Hey, since we're waiting and we have you here," Beca said to her two aca-sisters. "Chloe and I need to talk to you two."

"About what?" They both said.

"About the how you two are treating yourselves." Chloe said as Beca wrapped an arm around her. "Stop whatever self-destructing things that are going through your heads."

"We love you both," Beca said. "We don't blame you for what happened. I mean, initially, yes, I did blame you, but once the initial shock and anger wore off, I don't blame you anymore."

"Think of it this way," Chloe said, leaning into her wife's shoulder, "if you two would've known that after confronting her about her lack thereof eating would've caused this, would you have done it?"

They shook their heads, "Would you have let her be alone for any second of time?" Beca asked. They shook their heads again.

"So there, point proven. It's not your fault." Chloe said.

"Yeah it kinda is though." Micah mumbled from behind the couple and Beca reached back and hit his head.

"Micah Benjamin," Chloe scolded at the same time.

They heard grumbling and Aubrey and Emily watched as Cody took his hand from across the table.

Meanwhile, Micah and Cody were having a serious conversation of their own.

"Why didn't you tell me that you felt uncomfortable with me calling you 'dude?' I would've stopped." Micah asked softly, caressing the boy's knuckles.

"I didn't want to hurt your feelings." Cody said.

"Stop trying to protect me," Micah said. "I want us to have an open communication type of relationship."

"I know," Cody said. "I do too."

"This is all new to me." Micah said. "I've never been in a relationship before."

"I can help whenever you need." Cody said.

"What am I supposed to call you?" Micah asked seriously.

"Anything that doesn't resemble that we're friends." Cody said.

"Okay," Micah said kissing his hand. "So would this be a good or a bad time to ask you to homecoming?"

Everybody at South Los Angeles High knew they were dating, although, Micah wasn't a huge fan of PDA (much like Beca - Chloe pointed out), Cody couldn't help, but make it completely obvious.

Just as the question was asked, a LAPD officer walked into the diner making Micah, Aubrey, and Emily shoot up then Beca, Chloe, and Cody. "We found her." The officer said, "But, it isn't good. She's being transported to the nearest hospital. She collapsed and was unconscious."

"Okay," Beca said. "Can you escort us there?"

"Of course ma'am," he said.

Beca then turned to Aubrey and Emily and said, "Follow us, okay?"

"Okay," the two women said.

"You take him, okay?" Chloe then said to Cody about Micah.

"Of course." He said wrapping the boy in his arms.

And just like that they all were off to the nearest hospital to bring the princess/angel home.

* * *

Beca was pacing again.

It stopped surprising Chloe after the second night and this time she wasn't going to stop her.

It's been four hours and they still haven't seen Dani yet.

Chloe did look around, Micah and Cody had gone to the cafeteria to go get coffee and she softly smiled when she saw both Aubrey and Emily asleep - the lawyer's head on the music producer's shoulder. She knew that through this whole ordeal, the two had grown closer.

What she didn't expect was to hear what she was about to -

"Moms?" A voice came rushing into the hospital.

"Taylor?" The couple said seeing her and Parker come rushing into the hospital. "Parker?" They added seeing the boy come in behind them.

"Hi Aunt Chloe, Aunt Beca." He said awkwardly making Emily wake up.

"Baby?" The half asleep music producer said.

"Hi Ma." He said hugging her and then Aubrey, who was just waking up. "Hi Aunt Bree." He added eyeing how close the two were.

"What are you two doing here?" Chloe asked.

"How are you here?" Emily asked at the same time.

Parker sighed, "Let's just say, the other aca-aunts might be outside too." He said. "Aunt Stacie has connections."

And two minutes later, Stacie, Cynthia-Rose, Jessica, Ashley, Lilly, Flo, Fat Amy, and Bumper all came rushing in.

"How - how did you all get here so fast?" Beca asked.

"Aunt Stacie is dating a pilot," Parker said. "He owns his own plane. So here we are."

"Why?" Beca asked.

"We're a family Beca." Stacie said. "We would've been here sooner if LA was on the East Coast."

"Thank you," Chloe said hugging them all.

Just then the doctor came out and said, "Beca? Chloe?" The two looked over their shoulders and took a deep breath. "If I could speak to you in private please."

The couple walked towards the doctor and he led them into a room and said, "I'm not going to sugarcoat for you. She has an eating disorder. She 15 pounds underweight for her age and height. I'm not sure how she survived as long as she did on the streets."

"Is she going to live?" Beca asked.

"If she gets back into a regular eating regimen, yes, of course." The doctor said. "I also would recommend sending her to a treatment center to help her."

Beca took a deep breath and looked at her wife, who for the last week hadn't shown any emotion, holding it together as the entire family fell apart. The redhead was at her breaking point.

"Can we talk about that before we make an official decision?" Beca asked.

"Of course," he said. "I'll give you two a minute and then I'll take you two to her."

The doctor walked out of the room and Beca wrapped her arms tightly around her wife, Chloe buried her face into Beca's chest and just started to cry.

"I got you," Beca whispered. "Let it out."

Beca rocked Chloe back and forth - she remembered the days where Chloe had to pull emotion out of her. Where Chloe was in this helpless position helping her through. It was odd to be on the other end of it.

"I'm here," Beca said. "I got you."

When Chloe finally settled down, she said, "I'm sorry."

Beca stroked her hair and then said, "You've been holding in all of your emotion lately. What's going on?"

"Somebody has to be strong for the family." Chloe said.

"So we trade off," Beca said.

"I can't be strong anymore, Bec." Chloe whimpered. "I can't be."

"Nobody is expecting you to be beautiful." Beca said softly.

"Somebody has to," Chloe whimpered again.

"The thing about being married is that we trade off being strong. Sometimes you're going to be strong, sometimes I'm going to be strong. You don't have to be strong all the time when it come to me and the kids. We get that you're human baby. I don't want you to feel like you _have_ to be strong all the time. Share some of that burden with me." Beca's voice was soft. It was a voice that she only reserved for Chloe, Taylor, Micah, Dani, and sometimes Emily and Aubrey. "I love you beautiful. And I don't want you to think that you have to do what I did in college before you broke my walls down or how I was like after my parents disowned me, okay?"

"Okay, I love you too." Chloe said.

They then heard a knock on the doorframe of the room they were in, Chloe still cradled in Beca's arms, they both looked over to see a familiar face. After they registered who it was Beca smiled.

"Hey big brother," the music producer said with a small smile.

Doctor Nicholas Mitchell, or Nick as everybody called him, the top neurosurgeon in all of the United States.

They had Dani transferred to the UCLA Medical Center for tests and treatment after they got her stable and that's where Nick happened to work.

"Hi baby sister." He said. "Well, baby _sisters._ " Not wanting to forget Chloe's presence.

"Hi Nick," Chloe said.

"I heard my little warrior princess was in here and then I saw the Bellas and Taylor, Micah, Parker, and I'm guessing Micah's boyfriend out in the waiting room." He said a little nervously knowing he interrupted something.

Beca nodded, "She's safe." She said.

"But, the recovery process is going to be brutal." Nick said.

Beca nodded, "But, I know my princess. She'll make it through." Beca said as Chloe buried her face into Beca's chest.

"I'll make sure to subtly check on her while she's here," the doctor said.

"Thank you," Beca said wrapping strong arms around Chloe.

"Uh, is she going to be okay?" Nick asked referring to Chloe.

"She will be," the music producer said holding on tight to the now vice principal.

"I'll leave you two, just wanted to check in." He came forward and kissed Beca's forehead and the back of Chloe's head. "Love you two."

"Love you," both Beca and Chloe said at the same time.

The doctor left leaving the couple together alone again and Beca said, "If you ever need me to just hold you, I'll do it. I don't care if you wake me up in the middle of the night. I wanna be there for you."

Chloe responded by burying her face into Beca's chest.

"You okay?" Beca asked.

"Did Micah ever tell you about how our smells bring him back from a not so good place?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah," Beca said remembering their conversation the morning of the trial.

"Well, the smell of you brings _me_ back from a not so good place." Chloe said.

Beca kissed her wife's head, "We'll work this out I promise." The music producer said.

"I think she should go to that treatment center." Chloe said. "I want her home, but I think she needs more help than we can give her right now."

"I agree." Beca said holding her wife closer.

* * *

They were the first two to see Dani, the doctor requested two at a time, for the sake of the girl's mental stability. Dani's eyes were open when she came into the room, they had just gotten her to eat, and she was now half asleep.

"Hi," was the first thing that came out of the teenager's mouth and Chloe would be lying if she said she didn't think that she'd ever hear her angel's voice again.

"Hi princess," Beca said while "Hi angel," came out of Chloe's mouth.

"I'm sorry," Dani said.

"Why did you leave?" Beca asked. "Why did you run?"

"I thought you all were better off without me," Dani said almost as if she was small.

Chloe let out a small whimper upon hearing that, "No angel," the redhead said. "No, we're not better without you."

"I know I'm stupid," Dani tried to start.

"Hey, _no._ " Beca said firmly. "You do _not_ get to talk about my princess like that."

"Mama," Dani said softly, "I ran away because I thought that I was a burden."

"You're _not._ " Beca said firmly.

Dani's head ducked a little, "I know that _now_." She said softly. "But before, you'd been leaving Micah hanging when he needed you because of me. I don't want that. He needs you too."

Beca sighed as she ran fingers through the girl's hair. "Yes, we've been putting Micah in the backseat lately, but he understands why." The music producer said. "We want _you_ to be better."

Beca had tears in her eyes, it's something that rarely happens in front of the kids. The three of them know that if their music producer of a mom had tears in her eyes, it was for a damn good reason.

"C'mere Mama," Dani got out, "you too Mom."

The girl shifted enough to be sandwiched between the two moms. She curled into Beca and Chloe had her arm around the both of them. And before the chaos started again. That's how the three of them sat.

* * *

Two by two, each of the Bellas, Taylor, Micah, Parker, and Cody went in to see Dani.

When Aubrey and Emily walked in, Dani could see the hesitation on their faces and then she patted both side of her for her two aunts to come hold her.

"Hi," she said curling into Emily and Aubrey curled around her monkey.

"Hi," they both said.

"Moms said that you two have been beating yourselves up lately," she said.

"Yeah," they both admitted in soft voices.

"You two should stop doing that," Dani said. "It's not your fault that I was a dumbass."

"You're not a-" both the aunts tried.

"Aca-aunts," Dani said, "no. I ran away from my problems. I slept on the street for the past week because I thought my family was better without me."

The three lied there for a little while before Aubrey placed a small kiss on the girl's forehead knowing that their five minutes were coming to an end.

* * *

When Micah and Cody walked in, Dani's face lit up, "Hi." She said.

"Hi bud." Cody said.

"Hi sister." Micah said a little coldly. A little angry at the girl in front of him.

Dani could sense his anger, so she said, "I know it's not going to make up for it, but I'm sorry for running."

"You shouldn't have ran." Micah said keeping his distance.

"Bubba, c'mere." Dani said.

"I can't," Micah just walked out of the hospital room.

Cody watched his boyfriend walk out of the room and then looked back at Dani and said, "He'll come around. He's still just really angry."

Dani took a shaky deep breath, "I guess I would be too." She said.

"So, other than the obvious, how are you feeling right now?" Cody asked.

"Okay, I guess." She said. "I want to get better."

"That's always good to hear," Cody said.

* * *

Micah stormed out into the waiting room, passed where all of his family was and then stormed out of the hospital.

Beca and Chloe, who were cuddling, looked at each other, they've never seen him this mad before, so they both got up, and followed him out.

They saw him doing a breathing exercise and calming himself down.

"Bubba," Chloe said softly.

"Please go away," Micah said, clearly angry.

"Micah," Beca tried.

"Please. _Go. Away._ " He said a little more firmly.

"We cannot and are not doing that," Beca said. "What is wrong?"

He turned to them and for the first time in a week they saw the anger in his eyes. His normal beautiful, dark brown eyes were darker than normal, almost black. He was angry. Chloe had seem him like this once, but ever since the adoption he hasn't gotten this angry before.

Beca and Chloe taught their kids to never run from their problems, Dani had made that mistake, and Beca saw that Micah was about to.

"Do not run," Beca said. "You run there _will_ be serious consequences, you hear me? We don't need to find our missing child to lose another one. The media is already questioning our parenting skills."

"You going to stop me?" Micah challenged.

Chloe then felt her son's anger, but it wasn't just about Dani running away and Aubrey and Emily confronting Dani on her lack thereof eating. It was about his birth mother fucking up. It was about the foster care system tearing apart two siblings that needed each other. It was about Sarah Forrester choosing drugs over him and Bailee. It was about him never properly being able to say goodbye to Sarah. It was about the abusive homes that he was in. It was about how both Beca and Chloe put him in the backseat since Dani admitted to the family about what happened to her. All the anger over the last 17 years of his life was reaching the surface. Dani, Aubrey, and Emily gave it one final push to get it to where it is.

"Bubba, I need you to come to me," Chloe said opening her arms. "Come to Mommy."

Micah wanted to run, he wanted to get out of there, but he knew better. So, instead, he walked right into Chloe's open arms.

His head on her shoulder helped her to his ear and to say, "I'm sorry." She said. "I'm sorry that we've put you in the backseat. I'm sorry that the state of California failed you in the foster care system before you came to us. I'm sorry that Sarah died before you got to see her recover and start over again. I'm sorry that she chose drugs over you and your sister. I'm sorry Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily confronted your baby sister about her lack thereof eating. I'm sorry Dani ran away. But, you cannot run. Do you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am," he said against her shoulder.

She pulled back and grabbed his face kissing his forehead and then shoving him in the direction of Beca who just hugged him tightly.

* * *

Micah was in Cody's arms later that night after they had all gone home, they were lying in the hammock outside when Cody simply said, "Yes."

"Hmm?" Micah said somewhat coherent.

"Yes, I'll go to homecoming with you." Cody said.

Micah smiled, "I knew you would I just didn't want to assume." He mumbled. "Forewarning, homecoming and prom are big deals in this house. So don't fight them when they try to buy you a suit."

"Okay," Cody said kissing Micah's head.

* * *

Meanwhile, Beca and Chloe were sitting in the tub, Chloe relax back into Beca.

"Why did you feel like you had to be strong?" Beca asked.

"Someone had to be." Chloe said.

"Why couldn't you have given me some of that burden to bare?" Beca asked softly, rubbing tense shoulders that belong to her wife.

"I know what you're like when you're strong for the family," Chloe said. "You'd do the same thing I did." Beca was rubbing the tension from her wife's upper body and Chloe moaned at how good it feels, "Feels good." Beca responded by kissing her neck. "I'm sorry for trying to be strong through all of this."

"When everything settles down, I want us to take a weekend away." Beca said. "I know our anniversary is coming up next month. Maybe I could plan something. Just the two of us."

Chloe's face lit up, "Really?" The redhead asked.

"Yeah, Dani will most likely still be in the rehab center and it'll just be a couple of days, so maybe we can leave the boys here by themselves? They're old enough to be responsible right? I mean the worst that could happen is they fall asleep in the same bed."

"Or throw a party." Chloe chuckled.

"Yeah because a bunch of South Los Angeles kids would dare step foot into our home. Micah and Cody are the firsts." Beca said.

"I'd like a romantic weekend away." Chloe said honestly.

"Cool, I'll plan it." Beca said softly.

A few minutes of silence filled the room, aside from Chloe's occasional moan from Beca's shoulder massage, it was quiet. Until, Chloe said, "It was nice seeing Nick tonight. He looks good."

"Yeah," Beca said distantly.

"What's wrong love?" Chloe asked noticing her wife's tone.

"I love my big brother, really I do, but sometimes it makes me really miss my parents." Beca said. Chloe turned in her wife's arms so she could rest her head on her shoulder, "Hard to believe that 21 years ago today, they disowned me for not breaking out engagement off."

"I'm really glad you didn't though." Chloe said.

"Me too." Beca said kissing her wife.

"I love you Bec." Chloe said kissing the woman.

"I love you too, Chlo." Beca said. "We'll get through all of this just fine."

"Yeah," Chloe said. "I promise to be more up with you."

Beca leaned in to kiss her wife, they initiated a small make out session in the tub.

Sure, life was crazy hectic right now, but at least it was the start of getting better.

Or so they hoped.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** Yeah, I couldn't keep Dani away from the family that long. That would just about kill me.

But, more Bechloe/Micah-Cody fluff and a little more angst on the way. Next chapter, I'm hoping will be on the more fluffy side, haven't decided yet. We'll see.


	14. When Emotions Explode

**A/N:** The feedback was so sweet! This chapter is essentially full of mainly Bechloe fluff, but some Micah-Cody fluff too, since you all seem to like that.

This chapter is diving into a lot of emotions that have been shaken over the course of the story. Somewhat angst - not a lot though. I promise for a Bechloe fluffy chapter next time and you'll find out why during this chapter.

Sorry for the wait - school is stressful and I wanted to give you a long chapter.

 _Huge chunks of italics are flashbacks!_

* * *

 **Chapter Fourteen: When Emotions Explode**

"We're trusting you two to _not_ throw a party or anything," Beca said.

"We won't Mama," Micah said wrapping an arm around his boyfriend. "Promise."

"Yeah Beca," Cody said. "Unless you consider coding a website for our project a party, then it'll be a stressed out party of two. And then the homecoming tomorrow night."

"Which do not come back for," Micah said with a stern voice. "Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily are already filming the whole thing."

"I know," Beca chuckled and then called up the stairs, "Beautiful, we're going to be late for our dinner reservations!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Chloe said.

The older couple was off to the beach house in Orange County, but Beca reserved them for dinner at a restaurant that Chloe enjoyed.

Beca looked up the stairs as her wife was coming down. She was in awe of how beautiful her wife looked. Even rocking a pair of faded jeans, a flannel button up, and converse with her hair down and over her shoulders, Beca found herself in awe of her wife.

"Hey, Mitchell-Beale," Micah said. "Control your drool in front of us minors."

Chloe gave her son a shove, "Be nice." The redhead said before going to her wife. "Hi baby."

"You're so beautiful." Beca said.

"Awh thanks baby," Chloe cooed leaning into kiss her wife.

Beca deepened the kiss forgetting that the boys were there to say goodbye as their tongues collided, Micah cleared his throat, "Yo." He said softly.

"Sorry," they said.

"So you'll be back Monday after we get home from school?" Cody asked.

"Yes, sir." Beca said.

"Okay, well, have a good weekend." The blonde boy said.

"Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily will be over around 5-ish tomorrow, okay?" Chloe said mainly looking at Micah.

Micah still had to make amends, so to speak, with both Aubrey and Emily and even Dani. When the moms checked her into the treatment center to get help they had to reassure the girl that her bubba still loved her. The couple of times that the girl had called back home, Micah had refused to talk to her. Again, the moms had to reassure the girl that her bubba still loved her.

The same thing went for Aubrey and Emily, the two women had come over, a few times, and he wouldn't even look them in the eye, let alone spend time with them. The boy still had a lot of anger in him and if he didn't get it out soon, he was going to explode.

Micah slightly rolled his eyes, "Okay," he said. "You two better get going. I have to go get ready for the homecoming football game anyway."

"Hey," Chloe said catching his arm, pulling him in, "have a good game tonight." She was standing on tiptoes because the boy was much taller than her now. "And let your aunts help you tie your tie tomorrow," she whispered. "Forgive them because it wasn't their fault, okay?"

Micah's face was in Chloe's shoulder, he was doing that thing where the smell of Chloe brought him down from whatever anger he was in. "Okay," he said in her shoulder.

He pulled away and then Chloe said, "Now go hug your mama." As he did, Chloe went up to Cody to give him a hug, "Take care of him this weekend, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," he said whilst in the hug.

Meanwhile, Beca was hugging Micah tight, "I love you bub." She said.

"I love you too, Ma." He said. "Get Vice Principal Mitchell-Beale over here to relax this weekend, yeah?"

"You have everything ready for Sunday night, right?" She whispered.

He nodded, "Yes ma'am."

"Cool," she said. Beca then picked up her and Chloe's shared duffle bag and then wrapped an arm around her wife, "You ready, beautiful?"

"Of course sweetheart," Chloe said softly. "Bye boys."

"Make good choices," Micah said as the couple was leaving, knowing it's something Beca had said many times.

"You too kiddo," Beca calls over her shoulder.

The boys stood on the front porch and watched as Beca opened the passenger door of Beca's car for Chloe and then shut the door and got in on the driver's side, the women waving goodbye to the boys and Cody couldn't help, but say, "It's sickeningly gross on how in love they are."

"Tell me about it," Micah said. "You wanna drive to campus or should I?"

"I'll drive, I know how nervous you are right now," Cody said kissing his cheek.

* * *

Later that evening, Beca and Chloe were sitting across from each other at a somewhat empty diner over looking the ocean and the sunset.

"It's beautiful," Chloe said referring to the sunset.

"Yeah, you are." Beca said looking lovingly over at her wife.

Chloe blushed, even after all these years, Beca made her feel like the only woman in the world. "Thank you baby."

Beca grabbed the woman's hand and brought it up to her lips, "My freshman year at Barden, you barged into my shower to convince me to audition for the Bellas, and after that moment, I couldn't stop thinking of you. From that moment forward, I knew that I knew I was in love with you and even though at first I was a coward, I knew I wanted to spend forever with you by my side." Beca saw the water developing in Chloe's eyes. "I've been honored to be your wife for the last 21 years and I was wondering if you'd marry me all over again?"

"Wh - what?" Chloe asked confused.

"On Sunday, our actual anniversary, I was wondering if you'd marry me all over again?" Beca asked.

"Of - of course sweetheart," Chloe got out. "Of course I'll marry you all over again."

"Yeah?" Beca said her voice getting high.

"Yeah," Chloe said with tears in her eyes. "This Sunday though?"

"It's what Micah and I have been planning for weeks now, once I saw that our anniversary was on a Sunday, I knew this is what I wanted to do." Beca said.

Chloe leaned across the table to give the music producer a kiss, "Thank you baby." The redhead said once pulling away. "You always keep things alive in our marriage. Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve you."

"Well you do," Beca said.

Chloe then leaned back in her seat and said, "I just wish that all of our kids will be here to see it."

"Well..." Beca drew out.

"Well, what?" Chloe said.

"I worked something out with the head of the treatment center that Dani's at," Beca said. "Our baby is making major progress and she pulled some strings so that we could have it in a secluded area of the treatment center. It's not going to be a big thing. Just our kids, Parker, Cody, the Bellas, our brothers, and your parents."

Chloe's eyes brightened up, "H - how?" She asked amazed with her wife.

"We wanted to renew our vows for our twentieth anniversary, but we had just adopted Micah and we thought that settling him in for good was more important, so I wanted to surprise you a little." Beca said sheepishly. "Did - did I accomplish that?"

Beca felt a hand grab her chin and another passionate kiss given to her, "Of course baby," Chloe said. "I love you."

"I love you too beautiful." Beca said softly. "How about I pay the bill and we get out of here?"

Chloe smiled, "I'd like that." The vice principal said.

* * *

Post-homecoming game at South Los Angeles High School ended with Micah throwing his helmet into the locker because of how bad they lost.

"Dude," a fellow teammate named Ricky said. "Don't beat yourself up over this. It's just one game. You act like this school is actually good with sports."

"Yeah," another guy named Clay said, "and the West Point recruiter will be here next week, cut yourself a break Forrester."

"For the love of god, it's Mitchell-Beale," Micah snapped. "And why weren't you open?" He turned to Matthew Daley. "We could've won if you wouldn't have been such a klutz."

"So it's _my_ fault now?" Matthew said. "Last time I checked, I'm not the one storming through these halls and the field with anger. That's on you, _Mitchell-Beale._ " He emphasized on his last name. "What's going on with you cap? This isn't _you._ "

"He's got a point," the coach came into the conversation. "You haven't been yourself lately. Is everything okay?"

"Look, I'm fine," Micah snapped. "But, the weight of the team is on my shoulders. If this team messes up like it did tonight, Vice Principal Levy is on both of our asses," he said to the coach. "Yours to coach better, mine to lead better! So I'm sorry for wanting to win! I'm sorry that I can't lead better! I'm trying to keep my act together when clearly, my entire world is falling apart! Just get off my ass all of you!"

The locker room fell silent, Micah had finally lost his cool, "Micah," the coach finally said softly. "Please breathe. I'm under strict orders by your music producer mother not to call them this weekend if you have a meltdown."

"She'd just tell you to get my aunts anyway," Micah said lowly.

"Right, Aubrey Posen and Emily Junk, last time I checked, they were standing right outside with Cody Adams." The coach said softly. Micah's jaw tightened, "Actually, I'll bring your aunts in." He decided before turning on his heels and told the rest of the team to finish getting ready to leave and go, and then when they did, Micah was sitting on the bench in the locker room, not ready to face his aunts yet.

The team left and the coach went into his office, both Aubrey and Emily stood there, waiting for him to acknowledge their presence and after five minutes of him not. They slowly made their ways to both of his sides and sat next to him.

"Are you okay?" Aubrey asked softly.

Silence filled the locker room for a few moments and then finally, "I used to think that being strong was the only way to get through life," Aubrey looked over the boy to Emily who shrugged not knowing where this was going, "and then I met my mom. She managed to break my walls down without breaking that teacher-student line. She saw the hurt little boy that I was. When I was adopted when I went from Forrester to Mitchell-Beale, I felt alive for the first time in my life. And then I promised myself that I wouldn't cope the way I used to, I wouldn't be strong all the time, but then Dani ran away and it felt like my whole world was crashing down around me and all I could do was blame you two, even if my moms kept saying that it wasn't your guys' fault."

Beat.

"And it wasn't, I was just mad. Mad at how my life had turned out. Mad at my moms for placing me in the backseat when I needed them. Mad at myself for being so needy. Mad at the world for showing my _baby_ sister on how cruel it is. So I fell back into the way of being strong and in the end, I was just shaking a soda bottle known as my emotions and tonight - tonight - that bottle was opened and I exploded."

He finally made eye contact with Aubrey and then Emily, "I'm sorry." He said. "I'm not mad. I'm just trying to figure life out."

Both aunts, not caring that he had yet to shower after the game, wrapped him in a tight hug and kissed each of his temples, "We love you bub." Aubrey whispered.

"Yeah," Emily said with a shaky voice. "So much."

* * *

Chloe's head was on Beca's chest, the music producer playing with red hair, they had just spent the last several hours showing each other how much they still love each other. It was well after two in the morning, but they both were still wide awake.

"Do you remember our wedding day?" Chloe asked.

"Of course. It's one of eight happy days that I'll never forget," Beca said.

"Eight?" Chloe looked up at her confused.

"The day I met you, the day you barged into my shower, the day we got together, the day I proposed, the day we got married, the day Taylor was born, the day Dani was born, and the day we adopted Micah." Beca said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You're such a sap." Chloe teased. "Getting together with you was probably more awkward the barging into your shower your freshman year."

"You're the one that just randomly came up and kissed me." Beca argued.

 _Bellas practice was over, it was the first one where Beca shared the co-captainship with Chloe._

 _The redhead was smart and for whatever reason it was that she decided to fail Russian Lit to stay in an a cappella group was beyond her, but Beca didn't exactly know what the hell she was doing and she appreciated the help._

 _Beca and Jesse had just broken up after a late night confession that she finally told her redhead co-captain, but she wasn't going to act upon it._

 _Like, she wasn't THAT desperate._

 _It happened a little too quickly._

 _Beca was looking at something on her computer before packing up. She felt thumbs massaging the knot out of her back._

 _She didn't have to turn around to know who it was._

 _So she let out a tiny moan, before turning around to see her favorite redhead in the world, "Hi Chlo-"_

 _That's when she was interrupted by a kiss, a passionate one. A kiss that had all the Bellas yelling, "Pay up!"_

 _When Chloe pulled away she still had Beca's face in her hands and then Beca whispered, "You could've asked me out to dinner first."_

 _"Sorry, you know I don't go by the rules." Chloe said resting their foreheads together. "Will you, Beca effin Mitchell, be my girlfriend?"_

 _Beca chuckled, "Of course, Chloe freaking Beale." She answered before pulling Chloe into another kiss._

"You proposing at graduation was pretty memorable too." Chloe said kissing Beca's chin.

"Yeah?" Beca said kissing Chloe's forehead.

"Yeah," Chloe smiled.

 _"Congratulations to the Barden University class of 2015!" The president said as all the graduates threw their caps into the air._

 _Chloe can't believe she actually just graduated from college. She went to go find her girlfriend, to kiss her hard on the lips. She found the Bellas, including Emily and Aubrey, who had joined them from where she was sitting in the audience, in a circle._

 _"Hey guys!" Chloe said and all the Bellas turned around with smiles on their faces and a nervous Beca standing there. "What's going on?"_

 _"From the moment you barged into my shower freshman year, you've done nothing, but break down what I thought were my stone hard words and loved me unconditionally. And from the very beginning, even though it scared the fuck out of me, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you by my side." Beca got down on one knee, "So, will you, Chloe freaking Beale, do me the great honor of continuing to break down my walls forever by marrying me and being my wife?"_

 _Chloe's hand flew to her mouth, "Yes, yes, of course I'll marry you." She said and after the ring was placed in her finger she flung herself into Beca's arms and kissed her hard._

"You have no idea how nerve wracking that was," Beca said playing with read locks.

"Really?" Chloe asked.

"I thought you were going to say yes to me there and then later on tell me you only said yes to not hurt my feelings." Beca said.

"I couldn't live my life without you as my wife." Chloe said.

"I love you," Beca said softly.

"I love you too," Chloe said.

"I think we should just have the kids in the wedding party this time around. And Cody. To even out the sides." Beca said. "Micah even said he would walk you down the aisle."

"Yeah?" Chloe said.

"Yeah." Beca said.

* * *

Aubrey and Emily decided to stay at the Mitchell-Beale residence that night. They wanted to be there to help Cody because something shifted in Micah in the locker room that night.

They were standing in the kitchen looking out to the boys who were cuddling on the hammock outside. Micah hadn't said much after leaving the locker room and while Cody wasn't worried, both of the aunts were.

"You think he's okay?" Emily asked.

"I think he's not okay now, but he'll be fine eventually." Aubrey said.

They watched as his silhouette ran fingers through Cody's hair and they watched as Cody's silhouette placed his head on Micah's chest.

"They seem to have some sort of system down," Emily noticed.

"Yeah, I guess you have to when you both have shitty pasts." Aubrey said placing both hands on the counter trying to steady her breathing.

"Are _you_ okay?" Emily asked the lawyer.

"Not really." Aubrey said. "You?"

"I've definitely been better, that's for sure." Emily answered honestly. "Life is so crazy right now and I'm finally coming down from Dani running away."

Aubrey let out a forced chuckle, "You and me both."

"And I'm getting used to being home alone all the time. I didn't realize how much Parker took of my time until he left for Brown." She admitted. "The house is too quiet and sometimes my thoughts are so loud."

Aubrey reached out for the younger girl, the two had started to become close when the younger girl moved to LA with Parker, but more recently, they had become closer.

Aubrey pulled the younger girl in for a hug, "When I met you at the retreat, I could tell you didn't know what the hell you were doing or what was going on, but I saw all the potential that you had. Not just in a music career, but in life in general." Emily pressed her face into the lawyer's shoulder. "And love sucks, I'm not even going to lie to you. But, if I've learned anything from watching Beca and Chloe's marriage for the last twenty-one years, I know it's worth it in the end."

"Yeah," Emily said. "Thanks."

"Anytime, Em." Aubrey said.

* * *

"Remember when we found out that I was pregnant with Taylor," Chloe said, their position still hasn't moved.

Beca chuckled, "Yeah, I remember all the milestones of our kids' lives." She answered.

 _Chloe looked down at the pregnancy test with a small smile on her face._

 _"Well?" Beca asked standing with her back against the counter._

 _"Do you want to be Mommy or Mama?" Chloe then asked._

 _"What?" Beca asked._

 _"Well we can't both be mommy, so pick one." Chloe said with a huge smile._

 _"Are you saying-" Beca tried to ask._

 _"I'm pregnant," Chloe said._

 _"You're - you're -"_

 _"Yeah baby, we're going to be moms." Chloe said with a bright smile._

 _Beca kissed Chloe hard and then kissed her stomach where the baby was growing, "Hi baby, I'm your mama." She then said to answer Chloe's question. Beca then came up to Chloe and gave her one more passionate kiss before leading her to the bedroom to celebrate them expanding their family._

"I'll never forget you freaking out inwardly when my water broke though," Chloe said remembering that night.

"I think Aubrey was freaking out more." Beca said.

"Only because she was becoming a godmother for the first time." Chloe said.

 _"Bec - Beca," Chloe said as she was sitting on the couch next to Aubrey._

 _"Yeah beautiful?" Beca said looking up from her phone._

 _"Holy shit, Chlo, your water just broke." Aubrey said from next to her._

 _Beca's eyes wide, that was three weeks earlier than she was expecting. "What?" The music producer said._

 _"Her water just-" Aubrey tried._

 _"No I heard you, Posen." Beca said calming herself down to be there for her wife. "I just didn't want to believe you. Can you get the bag out of the closet by the door?"_

 _"Ye - yeah." Aubrey said, still not moving from her place on the couch next to Chloe._

 _"Dude, Posen," Beca said grabbing the woman's face, "I need you to like snap out of this, YOU'RE not the one having the baby."_

 _"Right," Aubrey breathed._

 _Beca nodded her head slowly and then said, "I'm going to bring the car out front, I need you to get the hospital bags and get Chloe as close to the door as you can, okay?"_

 _Aubrey nodded, "Okay."_

 _Close to twelve hours later, Chloe was sitting in bed with a baby Taylor in her arms and Beca next to her with an arm around her wife, "You're so beautiful," Beca whispered. "You both are."_

 _Chloe looked up with tired eyes to her wife and gave her a soft kiss, "I love you baby mama." She said._

 _Beca chuckled, "I love you too sweetheart."_

It was a moment that Beca could never forget, how Chloe's tired blue eyes were still bright and shiny. Kind of like now.

"Or when we found out you were pregnant with Dani after all those times of trying." Chloe said.

 _"If this doesn't end up working out, let's take a break for the sake of our emotional sanity," Chloe said._

 _"Agreed," Beca said as Chloe put a three year old Taylor down to sleep._

 _"Night Mommy," Taylor yawned._

 _"Night baby girl," Chloe said kissing her forehead._

 _"Night Mama," Taylor said sleepily._

 _"Night sweetheart." Beca said coming to kiss her forehead. "Mommies love you."_

 _"So much." Chloe said._

 _"I want a baby brother," she said as the couple had told her that they were trying to give her a sibling._

 _"We'll see," Beca said kissing her again and leading Chloe out of the room._

 _Twenty minutes later, a very hesitant Beca was picking up a pregnancy test and immediately tears filled her eyes._

 _"It's okay baby, we'll try again in a few months," Chloe said thinking it read negative._

 _"Why when we could have one in nine months?" Beca said._

 _Chloe grabbed the pregnancy test from her wife and then looked up with a smile on her face, "Really?"_

 _"Really."_

 _Beca's pregnancy wasn't an easy one, by month four, she was practically on bedrest. She worked on mixes while in bed, but she rarely got out of bed. She gave birth to Dani three months early and Dani had a respiratory chest infection that she had to fight off._

 _But, the day Beca and Chloe took her home, Beca remembers leaning against the door listening to her wife talk to their princess and angel._

 _"We almost lost you, angel." Chloe said softly to the baby. "I hope every single day you know how much Mama and I love you. How much your big sissy loves you." Chloe kissed her head and then placed her down and stared at the baby for a few moments. And when she finally turned around to see Beca leaning against the doorway, she gave a watery smile._

 _"You're a good mom, Chlo." Beca said. "I'm honored to be a parent by your side."_

 _Chloe kissed Beca and held her close for a few moments before going off to bed._

"Asking Micah if we could adopt him and then adopting him," Beca said, "it made me realize that giving birth to a child is much easier."

Chloe chuckled, "Yeah." The redhead will never forget asking their son to become a permeant part of their family and then making him a permeant part of the family.

 _"Micah, is it cool if you hang back after dinner?" Beca asked. "Chloe and I have something to talk to you about."_

 _"What's that?" Micah said._

 _"I don't think I can wait until after dinner," Chloe said and both the other girls nodded their heads knowing what it was._

 _Beca smiled and chuckled, "We want to adopt you." Beca said._

 _"Wh - what?" The boy got out._

 _"We want to adopt you." Beca said wanting him to know that it was a family decision, including her._

 _"You - you do?" Micah said confused. "Why?"_

 _"Because I would be stupid enough to just foster you until you age out. I would be stupid enough to continue to be your foster mother instead of your mama. Because we love you and we think you deserve a home. A permeant home."_

 _"Will you let us do that, sweetheart?" Chloe asked. "Will you let us provide you everything that a permeant home comes with?"_

 _Micah looked from the couple to his foster sisters, "Are you two okay with this?" He asked._

 _"They're right," Dani said. "You deserve a permeant home."_

 _"And no offense to Dani, but I always wanted a brother," Taylor said._

 _He looked back to his foster moms, down at his plate, and back up at Beca and Chloe, and said, "Micah Benjamin Mitchell-Beale DOES have a better ring to it."_

 _Beca and Chloe jumped from their seats and engulfed the boy at the same time, peppering his face in kisses._

"How that boy thought I didn't love him, I will never know." Beca said.

"He's had a past that is hard to erase from his mind," Chloe said. "I could imagine it being hard for him."

"When the words, _'Congratulations Micah, you're now officially a Mitchell-Beale'_ came out of the judges mouth, I thought he was going to collapse because of how overwhelmed he was."

"He did collapse," Chloe said, "but we both caught him in time before he did."

 _"It's been a long journey for you," the judge said looking at Micah. "I know you were physically and emotionally tired. But, you kept going and you didn't give up. You let Beca and Chloe Mitchell-Beale break down walls for you. You're home. Congratulations Micah, you're now officially a Mitchell-Beale."_

 _The gavel came down and that's when Micah's knees went weak and he thought he was going to fall to his knees, but he felt two pairs of strong arms around him and instead he collapsed in the arms of his mothers and buried his face into Chloe's chest._

 _"You're not going anywhere my love," Chloe whispered in his ear. "We got you forever now."_

 _Micah sobbed into her chest, for the first time in over ten years, finally feeling safe._

"Well lucky us then," Beca said. A few moments of peaceful silence came over them before Beca asked, "Do you wanna take a bath?"

"I do, but I'm too lazy to walk," Chloe said.

"It's a good thing I can carry you then," Beca said kissing the redhead's forehead. "I'll go start it and come back to get you."

"You treat me like a princess," Chloe said watching her naked wife get up and go towards the bathroom.

"Well, that's a shame," Beca called back, "because you're my queen."

Chloe blushed at the statement, _Yeah,_ she thought. _We still got it._

* * *

Cody Adams loved Micah Mitchell-Beale. Did he fall too hard too fast? Maybe. But, he knew that the boy currently holding him right now would never intentionally hurt him.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Micah asked softly.

"My entire life changed for the better when I met you," Cody said.

"Really?" Micah asked.

"Yeah," he said. "If it weren't for you, I'd be back in that rundown apartment in Compton trying to figure out a way to make it by while trying to keep my soccer scholarship. Your moms are really the best."

"They really are." Micah said.

A few minutes went by and Cody finally asked, "Why do you push people away?"

"What do you mean?" Micah asked.

"You push people away when it's evident that you need them the most, why?" Cody said as Micah's fingers went through his hair.

"Because I want to be strong enough to not have to lean on anybody." Micah answered.

"Why?" Cody asked.

"Because I didn't for nine years, ten if you count the last year with my mom." Micah said. "I don't like being needy."

"It's not needy," Cody said. "I just wish you'd let me and your family in."

"I'm learning how to," Micah said. "Ever since the whole Dani thing, my mama has been trying to come into my room and cuddle with me and stuff while talking to me. It's helpful. My mom comes in my room every morning to cuddle with me, but that's been ever since the adoption was final." He added remembering the first time Chloe had come in to cuddle with him.

 _It was the day after the adoption and happened to be Beca and Chloe's 20th wedding anniversary when Micah was half asleep feeling arms wrapped around him. He tensed a little before looking over his shoulder and mumbled, "Chloe?" He hadn't gotten to the point of calling them moms yet._

 _"Good morning love," Chloe said._

 _"Shouldn't you be cuddling with Beca this morning?" He asked. "It's your anniversary."_

 _"She had to go into the studio for a meeting." She said._

 _"On a Saturday?"_

 _"When you own one of the best recording labels in the country, sometimes you have to sacrifice some." Chloe said. "Now, shh, I wanna cuddle."_

 _"What about Taylor or Dani?" He asked._

 _"Yeah, I want to cuddle with my SON." Chloe said emphasizing son._

 _"Okay," he said then burying his face into Chloe's chest._

 _"I love you my son." Chloe whispered kissing his head._

 _"I love you too." He mumbled back. A few minutes of silence, "This is nice. I've always wanted to just lie and cuddle with you."_

 _Chloe hummed, "You could've." She said._

 _"I didn't want to get attached," Micah said._

 _"Even if Beca didn't fall in love with you like I did, we wouldn't dare put you back into that system." Chloe said. "You deserve better than that."_

 _"Well thanks," he said. "I don't know what I could ever do to repay you."_

 _"We didn't do it for that love," Chloe said. "We did it because we want you to have the best in life."_

 _"Nobody's ever wanted that for me." He whispered._

 _Chloe kissed his forehead and left her lips lingering there, "We do." She said._ _He mumbled something that Chloe couldn't quite make out, "What love?"_

 _"Is it cool if I start calling you and Beca, 'Mom' and 'Mama' like the girls do?" He asked._

 _Chloe's eyes watered with a small smile, "Yes, of course, my love." Kissing his head, "Take your time with it. We'll still be here no matter what."_

"The first time I called either one of them mom was when I was in either one of their arms." Micah said remembering. "We were at the beach house that Christmas. We had Aunt Aubrey, Aunt Emily, and Parker with us, and I honestly thought I did something wrong."

It took him a while to call them both mom, but when he did, it was something he never expected.

 _Christmas morning in the Mitchell-Beale household when the Junk's and Aubrey were with them was a chaotic thing._

 _It's Micah's second year with it all, but his first year as a Mitchell-Beale. He sat between Taylor and Dani at the breakfast table across from Beca, Chloe, and Emily. He was starting to feel really overwhelmed about it all and after breakfast right before they opened presents, he slipped outside to listen to the ocean hoping to calm himself down._

 _But, it was the one time, it didn't work._

 _He felt arms slip around his waist and a warm body behind him, "You okay bubba?" Chloe asked._

 _"I'm fine." He said. "Trying to not be too overwhelmed."_

 _"Here," Chloe said. "Let's sit for a minute."_

 _Chloe led the two of them to the bench outside and held the only boy who had successfully caught her heart and will always have it. She looked down at him, he was wearing a South Los Angeles Football sweatshirt and underneath she could tell he was wearing the baseball tee that had South Los Angeles High baseball on it while wearing a pair of sweatpants and slippers. It was the most comfortable she had seen the boy since before the stress of finals._

 _They sat quietly for awhile. Not knowing what to say, Chloe just held her boy and then he mumbled something she couldn't make out. And she said, "What's that lovey?"_

 _"I love you, Mom." He said. "Thanks for always looking out for me," he added, sincerely grateful for both of his moms._

 _Chloe's eyes filled with tears - she knew the boy had gotten her tangible Christmas gifts, but this was 10x better._

 _It took him another two hours before he could call Beca 'mama' for the first time._

 _She had a loose arm around him and he was playing video games with Parker who had Taylor's head in his lap._

 _Beca had heard him calling Chloe 'mom' and was a little jealous, both Taylor and Dani started calling Chloe 'mommy' before they called her 'mama' and Beca had pointed that out to Chloe when she was surprised to find their son calling her 'mom' first._

 _Chloe, of course, rolled her eyes and said that she knew calling them 'moms' was rolling around in his head for over a month and she was not to make him feel bad about it._

 _However, when Micah first called her 'mama' all those thoughts went away. She had gotten up to get more egg nog from the other room when it happened, "Hey Mama, could you get me some of Mom's hot coco when you're in there?"_

 _Everything stopped. Parker paused the game they were playing. Taylor lifted her head from his lap. Even the other room heard it and stopped. Beca froze in place and Chloe came in from the other room._

 _Micah then noticed how quiet the house got and said, "What?"_

 _"You just called them -" Taylor couldn't quite get the words out of her mouth._

 _Aubrey, Emily, and Dani then came in from the kitchen, "Well, they adopted me didn't they? The least I could do is call them 'moms.' Hell, it's the least I could do. It'll take me awhile to call them 'moms' without correcting myself, but I'm more than willing to get there." Micah said._ _Beca almost tackled him against the couch when she went to hug him. "Mama, I can't breathe."_

"She hugged me so tight afterwards, I almost didn't get that hot coco I was wanting," he said finishing the story.

"They love you." Cody said.

"Yeah, they love you too, you know." He said. "You don't have to hide from them."

"I don't-" Cody tried.

"When I was cuddling the other night, my mama had to spend five minutes convincing you that you weren't interrupting us." Micah said.

"Your face was buried in Chloe's chest and Beca was holding you both, I thought it was some family thing." Cody said. "I'm not their son, so I gave you three as much time as you needed to be a family."

"But, can't you see that they see you that way?" Micah asked.

"What?" Cody asked.

"Mom and Mama, they see you as their own, they don't expect you to call them any forms of mom, but in their eyes, you're becoming like a son to them. No matter what happens between us, you'll always be there son." Micah said.

"Is that how they feel about Bailee?" Cody asked.

Micah nodded against him, "My mom has the biggest heart, so does my mama. It's easier to see with my mom, but my mama does too. Mama may not where it on her sleeve like Mom does, but it was her idea for you to move into the pool house."

Cody looked up at the boy, "It was?" He asked.

"Yeah," he said explaining the story to him.

 _"You're late," Beca said as Micah got out of the car. "Your curfew was 10 minutes ago."_

 _"I know, I KNOW, I'm sorry." Micah said frustrated._

 _"What happened love?" Chloe asked._

 _"Cody's truck broke down and he wouldn't let me pay for Uber or a cab. And he lives in a shitty part of LA. I wanted to make sure he got home safe." Micah said running a nervous hand through his hair. He'd never been late for curfew before and he didn't want to see the repercussions of it. "And both of our phone died or I would've texted or called. I'm sorry."_

 _"Where does Cody live?" Beca asked softly, seeing the distressed look on the boy's face._

 _"Near campus in Compton." Micah answered honestly._

 _"What?" Beca asked._

 _"He lives-"_

 _"No I heard you, but I didn't want to believe you." Beca said. "Did you know this?" She then asked Chloe._

 _"I suspected it." Chloe said. "He's always on high alert. It's not the easiest part of town, then again, neither is South Los Angeles, and I know you know that because you hated the fact that I got a job there right out of my credential program at UCLA."_

 _"I want him safe," Beca said, unexpectedly._

 _"So do I," Micah said softly. "I'm afraid of the apartment complex he lives in. Like, I said, I'm sorry I was late for curfew-"_

 _"But, you wanted to make sure he's safe." Beca said. "I do too."_

 _Beca and Chloe then looked at each other and had a conversation with their eyes, they knew what the other was thinking, Beca was just the one who voiced it, "Let's have him move into the pool house."_

"Oh, sorry I made you late for curfew, by the way." Cody said.

"It's fine babe." Micah said, using the first pet name since the conversation about not calling him dude.

Cody seemed to like it because the boy then curled into Micah further and they lied there for another hour before getting up, saying good night and going their separate ways.

* * *

Beca called home the next day just to check on them and when Micah had said he had a meltdown and Aubrey and Emily stayed over because they didn't know how he was going to be, she inwardly cheered because it seemed as if the boy was turning over a new leaf. Hopefully the next day he would do something of the same with Dani to put the girl at ease.

"Aubrey and Emily stayed over at the house last night," Beca told Chloe hanging up the phone. "And will again tonight."

"Oh? Really? Did he say why?" Chloe asked as she was rubbing Beca's back.

"He apparently blew up last night and they didn't think Cody could handle it alone, so they stayed over and are helping them get ready for homecoming and then will stay over again before they go to our renewal ceremony." Beca said enjoying the back rub.

"I like that you put so much thought into it," Chloe said remembering Beca telling her some of what was to be expected at the renewal ceremony.

"You deserve only the best my beautiful love," Beca said softly.

"I'm glad that the treatment center is being so accommodating to let us do it there so Dani could be apart." Chloe said.

"It also happens to be a family day there." Beca said, "But, when I explained what I wanted to do, the director was more than willing to accommodate."

"Do you think she's doing okay?" Chloe asked.

"From what I heard, she's taking the program seriously," Beca said. "She's a fighter."

"That she really is." Chloe said rubbing a knot out of her wife's shoulder. "She always has been."

"All of our kids are," Beca said, even referring to Bailee and Cody.

"Micah, Bailee, and Cody have probably seen more of life than they should have at this point," Chloe said pulling Beca down to cuddle.

Beca pulled Chloe into her arms and whispered, "Yeah."

"Do you ever stop and think about all that the three of them have been through?" Chloe asked softly.

Beca lets out a breathe, "All the time." She said.

"It hurts thinking about it," Chloe said. "It hurts too much to even think of all the horrible things they must've gone though. What _all_ of them must've gone through."

"I know it does, beautiful. Believe me, I do, but I try not to think about it much." Beca said. "I'm sure they don't want us sitting around thinking about the shit life has handed them. They all have us now."

"True, but ever since we've found out what's happened with Dani, I can't help, but wonder what would have happened if I ignored my gut like I told myself to at first with Micah." Chloe said.

"What do you mean?" Beca asked never hearing this part of the story.

"At first, I told myself that I was getting too invested." Chloe said. "I saw it every time I brought him up at home."

"You just talked about him all the time like he walked on water." Beca said softly.

"I never wanted you three to feel like I loved him more," Chloe said remembering how her wife and daughters would joke that she loved Micah more, especially when he came into their lives permanently.

"Beautiful," Beca whispered. "We were _kidding._ "

"It doesn't _feel_ like you were kidding," Chloe said jumping up going to the balcony to look at the ocean.

Beca sighed, Chloe had been more like this since Dani admitted to what had happened to her. The music producer got up and came behind her wife wrapping arms around her. "Beautiful," she whispered again. "Talk to me, what's wrong?"

"When we agreed to start our family, I didn't want them to know the horrors of the world." Chloe said. "At least - at least not until they were older and for awhile, it was like that. And now four out of five of our kids really know how shitty this world is. It makes me feel like a really bad mom."

Beca kissed the back of her wife's neck, "You're an amazing mom, Chlo."

"Yeah? Really? Because you do realize our youngest daughter thought after the whole thing that I didn't love her anymore, right?" Chloe said grabbing the balcony's railing.

"Hey," Beca said, "Dani thought that because you were giving her space."

"Yeah," Chloe turned in her wife's arms and the anger was still there. Months of bottled up emotions were leading up to this point. Sure, she had let go of a little of it the night they found Dani, but not all of her anger was released. "And then - and then-" She let out some sort of suppressed scream and then started punching Beca's chest. All Beca could do was wrap her arms tighter around the redhead.

And when the sobs that were coming from Chloe had died down and the punch had stopped, Beca scooped Chloe up, bridal style, and brought her to the bed to hold her more comfortably.

Chloe fell asleep and Beca stayed up watching her.

* * *

Aubrey was tying Micah's tie as Emily caught it on video to send to both Beca and Chloe.

"How do you not know how to tie a tie?" Aubrey asked.

"I do, but I know my moms like tying it for me, no matter how much my mama makes a big deal out of it." Micah said looking directly into the camera.

"I used to tie Parker's ties all the time, just because I could, so I know how your mama feels." Emily said.

"There you go," Aubrey said kissing his cheek.

Emily stopped recording for the moment and kissed his forehead and said, "You're handsome Micah."

Micah smiled a half smiled dopey smile and said, "Thanks Aunt Emily."

"Now get next to your Aunt Bree." She said holding up her phone. "We know your moms like pictures too."

He stood next to Aubrey and wrapped an arm around her shoulders smiling as Emily snapped the picture sending it first to Beca's phone and then Aubrey took the second picture sending it to Chloe.

* * *

"Beautiful," Beca said walking into the beach house's kitchen, "They videoed everything and sent it. Was thinking we could watch it during dinner on the laptop?"

"Of course," Chloe said still feeling a little guilty for punching her wife's chest when her emotions exploded.

Beca sensing that came from behind her wife and said, "You punch like a girl, it didn't hurt at all."

"I still shouldn't have done it." Chloe whispered.

"You're the best wife in the world." Beca said softly. "I love you."

Chloe was touched by her wife's words, "I love you too." Chloe said softly.

"Now c'mon, we can watch our boys go off to homecoming now." Beca said.

They sat on the couch, Emily had compiled all the footage into one long video, and Beca had it set up with a bottle of wine waiting for them. They sat down with dinner and Beca poured them both some wine and they both leaned back Chloe cuddled into the music producer.

They sat and watched the boys getting ready and seeing each other in their suits for the first time. They both smiled when they saw the love in each of the boys eyes when they saw each other.

Sure, it happened quickly, but they saw how happy Micah was and didn't complain one bit.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** So next chapter will be the renewal ceremony, this was just getting too long, so it'll be a chapter on it's own.

Hope you enjoyed!


	15. A Love So Deep

**A/N:** So this is _mainly_ fluffy. But, I've been in a really angsty mood lately. So I apologize.

Also sorry for the wait, school and the internship have been keeping me super busy. Why am I taking 15 units with an internship again?

 **Last scene rated m because, well, I was asked for some Bechloe loving.**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifteen: A Love So Deep**

Dani was nervous.

She was excited to see everyone, but she hadn't seen them since before she was admitted.

She was most nervous to see Micah.

The two had a special sibling bond. The first night he was in the Mitchell-Beale household, she went out of her way to make sure that he felt safe. She made sure he had a towel and a robe, knew how the shower in the bathroom worked, and even made sure that he knew how to work his alarm clock.

 _Dani walked into Micah's room where he was doing homework and she knocked on the door frame of the bathroom into his room._

 _"Hey," she said softly. Holding a towel and robe in her hands._

 _Micah turned around from where he was doing his Pre-Cal homework and said, "Hi. Dani, right?" He still was trying to get used to calling Mrs. Mitchell-Beale, Chloe, when he was off campus. And trying to remember his other foster mom and foster sister's name was hard enough for him to remember._

 _Dani smiled softly, "Yeah," she said. "I just wanted to make sure you had a towel and robe and whatnot. My mom wanted me to give this to you."_

 _"Oh thanks," Micah said. "Tell your mom thank you too."_

 _"Will do." Dani said._

 _"Which is which?" Micah asked softly. "Who's Mom and who's Mama?"_

 _"Oh, right." Dani said scratching her head, "Chloe is Mom. Beca is Mama."_

 _"Oh cool." Micah said. "What's it like? Having two moms."_

 _"I feel safe." Dani said. "My mama always makes sure I am."_

 _"That's cool," Micah said softly, the music producer hadn't warmed up to him yet._

 _"Anyway," the 12-year-old version of Dani said. "Mom wants me to show you how to work the shower."_

 _"Oh yeah, that'd be cool." Micah said following her._

 _Once she showed the boy how to work the shower, she then said, "If you need anything else, you can ask me, if asking the moms is a little awkward."_

 _"Thanks," he said._

 _"It's nice to finally meet the boy that my mom talks about often," Dani said making Micah blush. "And you're safe here." She added seriously._

 _Dani then left Micah in the bathroom deep in his thoughts._

 _Just like Taylor, Dani had always wanted a brother, a big brother too. She could only hope that Micah Forrester became that big brother for her._

Dani was brought out of her thoughts by two car doors opening and shutting, she looked up with a soft smile. "Hi Moms." She said softly.

"Hi angel." Chloe greeted her first with a big hug. "How are you?"

"I'm alright." Dani said. "Can't wait for my program to be over so I can go home. I miss not having to share a room." Beca then caught up and kissed the girl's forehead, "Hi Mama."

"Hi princess." Beca said wrapping both of her arms around the girl. "You look so good."

"Thanks Mama." Dani said sinking into her embrace. "When are the others going to be here?"

"Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily should be here with the aca-family soon." Beca said. "Micah and Cody will be here with Pop pop, Nana, Uncle David, and Uncle Nick around the same time."

"Cool," Dani said softly.

"We've missed you." Chloe said as they walked towards where the renewal ceremony was going to be.

"I've missed you too." Dani said.

"Be honest," Beca said, "how's the program really going?"

The three walked in silence for a little bit, "It's hard," Dani said as they looked at the overcast over the Pacific Ocean that the treatment center overlooked. "But, I want to get better. I really want to get better."

"We want you to get better," Chloe said.

"I'm sorry for everything." Dani said. "I know I've apologized already, but I feel like I need to say it again."

"It's okay princess," Beca said. "You're working hard to get better, that's all that matters."

"Yeah baby," Chloe said pulling the girl close to her, "that's all we care about."

"I love you." She said sinking into Chloe. "Both of you so much."

"We love you too honey." Chloe said kissing the top of the girl's head.

The three of them stood at where the ceremony was going to be, overlooking the ocean, enjoying each other's presence.

* * *

Beca and Chloe's first wedding was at city hall in Los Angeles the first time with the Bella's, Chloe's parents and brother, and Beca's brother. Add the five children that were going to be their wedding party this time and it was somewhat of a reenactment of their wedding.

Since it wasn't a legally binding commitment anymore like it was over twenty years before, they asked Parker to officiate the wedding as he would be their son-in-law soon enough and they wanted him to be apart of the ceremony.

So that's how the Mitchell-Beale family and their extended family found themselves over looking the Pacific Ocean on an overcast Sunday afternoon in November.

"Family and well, family," Parker said beginning to officiate the renewal ceremony, "I welcome you the renewal ceremony of Rebeca and Chloe Mitchell-Beale." He had a half-grin dopy smile on his face. "When you got married twenty-one years ago today, you didn't know where life would take you. From what I've been told, you promised to love, honor, and cherish one another through all things. Life surely has taken you down a bumpy path, especially more recently, but never once have either one of you faltered. Never once did one of you call it quits. The love you two share for each other is a testament to what love should be. But, we're here today because you want all of us in the family to know that you two still love each other in the way that makes everyone around you wanna throw up," he joked with a small wink earning a chuckle out of everyone, "As you celebrate here today, and as you reflect back over the last twenty-one years as happily married wives, do you now wish to reaffirm those vows you took all those years ago?"

"We do," the couple said.

"Please face each other and hold hands." Parker said. Beca faced Chloe and saw the look of joy on her face, "And because I can't call you just Beca and Chloe, you'll have to bare with me a minute." He said. "So, _Aunt_ Beca, will you continue to have _Aunt_ Chloe as your wife and continue this loving marriage with her?"

"I will," Beca said looking into bright blue eyes.

"Do you reaffirm your love for her, and will you love, honor and cherish her in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Beca said with tears in her eyes.

" _Aunt_ Chloe will you continue to have _Aunt_ Beca as your wife and continue this loving marriage with her?"

"Of course, I will." Chloe said.

"Do you reaffirm your love for her, and will you love, honor and cherish her in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Chloe said.

"Aunt Beca and Aunt Chloe have prepared new vows for each other," Parker said. "Aunt Beca, would you like to begin?"

Beca cleared her throat and pulled out a 3x5 card from her back pocket, "Chloe, I was 18 years old when you broke into my shower, made me feel awkward, made me sing with you, and that was the moment I fell in love with you. Over the course of the last twenty-five years, you've done nothing, but make me want to be a better person. You break down my ever so hard, cemented walls, and you get to see a part of me that nobody else does. Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for always keeping me honest and humble. Thank you for always being you." Beca's tears were streaming down her face, "I promise to always be honest with you. I promise to never give up on you. I promise to love you indefinitely. I love you so much."

When it was evident that Beca was done, Parker said, "Aunt Chloe."

"Some nights you keep me awake because I want to know that you that you get home safe. Some nights you keep me awake because I can't sleep without you holding me from behind. I didn't want to love you at first, you seemed so unreachable, but ever since singing Titanium in that shower stall at Barden, I knew I couldn't live my life without you as my wife. Thank you for letting me break down those walls. Thank you for providing for our family. Thank you for keeping me safe, keeping our kids safe. I promise to love you indefinitely. I promise to keep those walls down. I promise to keep you humble and honest. I love you, more than I'll ever understand. More than you'll ever know."

Parker had to clear his throat, "Aunt Beca and Aunt Chloe, on your wedding day you exchanged rings as a symbol of your indefinite love for one another. Also as a reminder of your commitment to each other. May you always wear your rings as a reminder of your wedding vows to each other, and your commitment to continue to live in unity, love and happiness. To remind you of that commitment made on your wedding day, you will now renew your pledge. Aunt Beca, please place your gift of a ring on Aunt Chloe's hand with the words, with this ring I renew my pledge of love and commitment."

Beca and Chloe had swapped rings before Micah had walked her down the aisle, she pulled Chloe's engagement and wedding ring, and slipped it back onto her finger, "With this ring I renew my pledge of love and commitment." Beca said softly, tears still in her eyes.

Parker had to clear his throat again, the love that his aunts share was astounding to him, he briefly made eye contact with his fiancé with a small smile before saying, "Aunt Chloe, please place your gift of a ring on Aunt Beca's hand with the words, with this ring I renew my pledge of love and commitment."

Chloe had Micah holding her ring for her because her jeans were too tight to keep anything in the pockets, "With this ring I renew my pledge of love and commitment." Chloe said, the tears flowing freely down her face.

"Now, we go to the three Mitchell-Beale children, who were asked to prepare something in honor of their moms." Parker said, gesturing to Taylor first.

Taylor stepped from behind Beca to in front of them both, "Growing up, I never had to question if either one of you loved me because you showed me that you did. I had a good childhood. I had everything I ever wanted, even if it took you over ten years to give me a brother." She said smiling over at Micah who was behind Chloe, making everybody chuckle. "The love you have for each other showed me growing up what I should expect in a future spouse. You both always showed me to never settle for second best. So, thank you. I love you both more than any words could ever describe."

Taylor hugged both of her moms and then Dani came up, Micah opted to go last because he really just didn't know what to say, "Normally, people my age would think their parents are annoying and want nothing to do with them, I honestly thought I didn't deserve you, but you two didn't give up on me, and I realized that was what love is. The love you have for each other is overflowing and we kids get the overflow and more. I know we talked about it earlier about how much you two love me and how much I love you two, but words cannot describe it. So thank you."

The girl was wrapped in a hug by both of them. The girl had come a long way in the month she had been in the treatment center and while she had a long way to go, there was no question about her recovery right at that moment.

Micah stood up and the women eyed him, he looked tenser than normal, but they would let it slide, _for now._

"Freshman year, I walked onto the campus of South Los Angeles High School and I just wanted to keep my head down, get a scholarship, and get out of there." He started. "Then I walked into my freshman music class to find a bubbly redhead who probably could've gotten a job at a better school, but still chose us South Los Angeles High monsters over a prep school." Chloe side-eyed her wife, knowing that she's called the students of South Los Angeles High monsters whilst this boy was in earshot. "So this bubbly redhead took an interest in me. So much so that for the first four weeks I had to hear from her wife and oldest daughter about how it seemed like she loved me more. And at first I felt bad," Micah cleared his throat and continued, "because here I was, at the time, a foster kid that was struggling to make it to the end of the day. And this bubbly redhead who would casually slip notes of encouragement into my locker every morning wanted me to be her son." He then turned to his moms and said, "I often mention how you saved me, how burying myself deep into one of your guys' chest brings me back to a safe place, I'm not lying. I love you two more than I ever wanted to at first. It's so baffling that you two would take in a kid and make him your own. I love you." Was all he could get out before falling into both of their open arms before taking a step behind Chloe again.

Parker then cleared his throat and finished the ceremony, "Cody, are you sure you don't have anything to say?" He asked.

"Not publicly, no." Cody said.

Parker nodded understandingly, "I never knew what love was - I mean - I did," he said looking over at his mom who smiled softly, knowing where he was going, "not until one night my mom said we're moving to California to start over and less than 12 hours later we were on the doorstep of my godmothers' house. Not until the day that Aunt Chloe took the day off from work so I could show her off at the career day at Eastwind. Not until the day that Aunt Beca took me out of ice cream just because a kid bullied me at school. Not until the day where I walked into the living room of the Mitchell-Beale residence and I saw my mother curled into Aunt Chloe with a tear-stained face because the custody battle with my father was becoming too much. Not until the day where I saw Aunt Beca break down in Aunt Chloe's arms because something tragic happened to their princess and angel." Parker looked over to his finacé's youngest sister with a supportive smile. "Aunt Beca and Aunt Chloe showed me what love is by their actions. So when Aunt Beca asked me to officiate this renewal ceremony, I couldn't help, but immediately say yes. So, by the power invested in me, by one Rebeca Mitchell, I now pronounce your marriage vow renewal thing, done." He said knowing that didn't sound official at all whatsoever. "You may kiss your bride."

* * *

The treatment center gave them a gazebo to hold a small dinner in and before they all went in there, Micah pulled Dani aside.

Dani swallowed, ready for her big brother to really chastise her for running, but instead was met with the big bear hug that he always gives and a mumbled I'm sorry for being an asshole into her head.

The two stood there for awhile, both slightly crying out the weeks of pent up emotion inside them.

Finally Micah pulled back and said, "You get better. I need a teammate to banter with Mama again."

All Dani could do was nod.

* * *

"So, I'd like to make a toast," Chloe's dad Michael said looking over at Chloe, who was sitting with Beca's arm around her, "to not only my beautiful daughter and equally beautiful daughter-in-law, but to their family as well."

"I know legally, you have three beautiful children, but I know in your hearts you have five. And I know that your fifth child is serving our country right now and couldn't be here, but I know she wishes she could. So to the Mitchell-Beale family!"

"To the Mitchell-Beale family," everyone says at the same time.

Just then Micah's phone rings, indicating a FaceTime call from Bailee, "Speaking of your fifth child!" Micah said. "A-hoy there Lieutenant Forrester!" He answered once it connected.

 _"A-hoy there, future cadet! Where are the brides?" She said with a soft smile. She was exhausted, but she needed to make sure that Beca and Chloe knew that she loved them._

"I'm great thanks, how are you?" Micah said mock offended that she immediately asked for Beca and Chloe.

 _"You know I love you, but I'm on a time crunch here, bear." She said._

Micah chuckled and passed the phone down, "Hi sweetheart," Chloe said as she held the phone.

"Hey Bay." Beca said her arm still around Chloe's chair.

 _"Hi!" She said. "I just wanna say that I love you both and I appreciate the care package you sent over and thank you for everything."_

"We love you too honey," Chloe said. "We can't wait to have you back home and in our arms."

"Yeah, what she said." Beca said kissing the side of Chloe's head.

 _"I can't wait to see you and the family again." She said. "I just wanted to video call and say that I love you both."_

"We love you too sweetheart," Chloe said.

"So much," Beca said.

 _"Okay, hey, bear, I'll call back as soon as I can, okay?" She called out to Micah._

"Don't worry about it, Bee. You keep our country safe."

 _"Copy that."_

"Love you," the Mitchell-Beale's said.

 _"Love you all, hello to the rest of the family. I'll be home soon."_

"Hello." Everybody else said. "We can't wait to meet you," Chloe's mom, Vanessa said.

 _"Likewise."_

They said their goodbyes and Chloe passed Micah's phone back down to him. And as they fell back into the swing of dinner, Beca and Chloe looked over to their youngest daughter with a small smile knowing that she was about to finish the first full plate of food without them having to push her to eat a little more. The girl was sitting on the other side of Beca and the music producer kissed her head and whispered, "Love you princess."

Dani, who had a mouth full of food, mumbled back, "I love you too, Mama."

* * *

"So if she continues to stay on course, like she is now, she could be out of here by Christmas," the director told Beca and Chloe.

Beca looked over at where Dani and Micah were talking, the boy had his arm around her, and was talking quietly.

"She looks good," Chloe said. "This program is doing wonders for her."

"She's making progress." The director said. "She's definitely not the girl you two checked in here."

"Well, that's good," Chloe said. "Thank you again for allowing her to be apart."

"While she's making progress, she's really sad." The director said. "She does everything we ask her to do, eats all the food we put on her plate, but something is still off. We are aware of what has happened to her in the last year and we're not discounting that, we just want you two to know that when she comes home, she may be better, but she isn't _better._ "

"Our son has said that she'll get better, but she'll never be the same again," Beca said, her eyes still on the big brother-little sister duo.

The director and Chloe looked to where Beca was looking at, Dani was tucked into Micah's side.

"Has she said much?" Chloe asked, noticing her son taking care of it.

"She only talks when she's talked to." The director said. "We understand that she wants to get through her program, get better, and go home, but something needs to happen."

"I'm sure she was fearing that her brother didn't love her anymore," Chloe said as Beca absentmindedly wrapped an arm around her as she still was looking at her son and youngest daughter.

The director then really looked at the brother-sister duo and said, "Well, I think things will be better now."

* * *

"Everything just felt overwhelming," Dani admitted to Micah. "And then I saw how they kept canceling things on you because of me and I thought that if I just disappeared that would make things better."

"It didn't though." Micah said softly wrapping a loose arm around her. "In fact, it made things worse."

"I know that now, but at the time, it seemed like a good idea." Dani said curling into her big brother.

"Why didn't you text me our code word?" Micah asked.

The two had a code word. If Dani ever texted Micah C-R10 - Code Red: Level 10 - he would stop whatever he was doing to help her.

"I thought you were mad because Moms kept babying me." Dani said honestly. "And besides, you were celebrating Cody's birthday."

"I would've slipped out and called you," Micah said. "You remember our rules."

Dani nodded, remembering the first night that he had helped her through a panic attack after a nightmare.

 _"Micah," Dani said, pushing down on his shoulder. "Micah, please wake up."_

 _Micah woke up and mumbled, "Hmm? What? Dani? Are you okay?"_

 _"Sorry for waking you, but I don't wanna wake up Moms. I had a nightmare." She said._

 _He lifted the blankets up for her to crawl into, "C'mere bud."_

 _"Thank you," Dani said once she was settled in his arms._

 _"I know you probably don't want to talk about it, so I'm not going to push you, but know I'm here. I'm ALWAYS here if you need someone to talk to." He said kissing her forehead. "I understand it better than Moms do, so I'll ALWAYS be here for you bud, okay?"_

 _"Sometimes you're easier to go to than the Moms." Dani said softly._

 _"I know," Micah said. "How about we make a rule that whenever you say a code word - NO MATTER WHAT - I'll stop what I'm doing to help you. Does that sound fair?"_

 _"Even if you're mad at me?" Dani asked._

 _"Even if I'm mad." Micah said._

 _"Busy?" Dani went on to clarify._

 _"I'll finish whatever I can and then get to you." Micah said._

 _"No matter what?" Dani asked._

 _"No matter what." Micah responded._

"And for the record," Micah said pulling her out of the memory of that night, "I wasn't mad. I understood. I leaned onto Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily a little more during that time."

"Moms said you were mad at them for awhile." Dani said.

"I'm working out some anger issues." Micah said. "No biggie, this _isn't_ about me though. I love you bud."

"I love you too bubba."

Micah kissed her head and they sat there for awhile. Nothing else needed to be said, he just wanted to hold his sister.

* * *

"You continuing to do whatever you're doing to get better, you hear me?" Beca said to Dani.

"Yes ma'am." Dani said burying herself into Beca's arms. "I can't wait to be home."

"I love you princess." Beca said.

"I love you too, Mama." Dani said before leaving her embrace to go to Chloe's. "Bye Mommy," she murmured.

"Bye angel," Chloe said as the girl sunk into her arms. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." Dani said taking in the warm smell of one of her mothers.

"You take care of yourself, okay?" Chloe said. "You'll be home before you know it."

"Can I get a back rub when I get home?" Dani asked hopefully.

"You bet, my love." Chloe said kissing the girl's forehead.

Beca dropped a kiss to her youngest daughter's forehead and then led Chloe back to her car. They still had one more night at the beach house that they were going to take advantage of and Beca didn't want to waste another moment.

* * *

Micah was in his room, sitting at his desk finishing an essay. Cody had gone to bed being exhausted from a day full of a lot of people he didn't know. Aubrey and Emily, who were staying over one more night just to make sure the boys got off to school okay the next morning, were watching television downstairs.

Micah went to print out his paper and found that he needed to restock the paper in the printer. He went to where the ream of paper was and an envelope fell out. He picked the envelope and looked at it.

When Sarah died, the doctor found two envelopes on her person addressed to both him and Bailee. He hadn't opened his yet. He knew Bailee had and she refused to tell her what was in her letter. With that he was afraid to, he had stuffed it with his extra reams of paper wanting to forget about it almost.

He took a deep breath and opened it:

 _My Little Prince,_

 _If you are reading this that means that I let the drug and alcohol addiction take over me and I am know longer with you._

 _I know you are mad at me for what I did to you and your sister and rightfully so. I'm glad you found home with Beca and Chloe, I'm sure they could be better mothers to you than I am to you._

 _The truth is, I never really wanted to be a mother to you. You were such a surprise to our lives. I always convinced myself to love you and maybe at the end I truly did love you, but I really only wanted your sister. And I know it doesn't make any sense because I went out of my way to try to see you over the last year. And maybe I loved you a little, but it was hard for me to do._

 _I hope you succeed far in your life and I hope Beca and Chloe give you the love that I could never give you and I'm sorry for the drama I caused your family._

 _Sincerely,_

 _-Sarah_

Tears developed in Micah's eyes and he found himself shoving the drawer closed and then shoved paper into his printer and printed out his paper. He stapled the paper and threw the stapler on the desk. He threw the letter onto his bed not wanting to deal with it right then.

He then heard a knock at his door and he got up, roughly rubbing his face, and opened the door to see both of his aunts standing there with concerned looks on their faces.

The sight of his aunts made him collapse into Aubrey arms and cry into her for the second time in three days. They both managed to get the boy to his bed where the could hold him properly.

As Aubrey got him to the bed, Emily moved the piece of paper and read it and eyes widened - _This is why he was so upset._

She showed Aubrey the paper after the boy settled into her arms and then the lawyer's eyes widened in anger.

Let's just say that, Sarah Forrester is lucky that Aubrey Posen can't do anything to her.

Emily sensed the lawyer's anger and put a calming hand on the blonde's arm.

The two made eye contact with each other before both of their sets of eyes made there way down to a silently sobbing Micah. Aubrey pulled him close, like Chloe would, while Emily wrapped herself around him and Aubrey like Beca would with him and Chloe.

* * *

 **This next scene is: NSFW; NC-17; Rated M. Mature Content ahead. In other words, advert your eyes kids. If you choose to skip it, that's fine. You will miss _nothing._**

* * *

Beca pulled up to the beach house and she could tell by the way her wife couldn't keep her hands off of her that the redhead's arousal level was high. Beca got out of the car and rolled over the hood of the car to open Chloe's door.

"You know how hard the last two hours were to keep from taking you in the car," Chloe husked into Beca's ear as she copped a feel on her wife getting out of the car.

Beca moaned as Chloe's kisses went down her neck.

"C'mon baby," Beca whispered. "Lemme carry you over the threshold. Just like I did on our wedding night."

"You know it turns me on when you go about tradition." Chloe's low voice sparked something within Beca, who picked her wife up, managed to lock the car and unlock the front door to the beach house all with Chloe in her arms.

Beca barely got the door closed and locked before she pinned her wife up against the door.

 _"Fuck."_ Chloe swore.

Beca started kissing her wife's neck and muttered, "You know you swearing turns me on."

"I can't begin to tell you how much you've turned me on just for being a sap today." Chloe husked.

"Tell me what you want beautiful." Beca said unbuttoning the shirt Chloe was wearing and began kissing her chest.

"Honestly?" Chloe asked as Beca continued kissing her chest.

"Yes." Beca said continuing to kiss her chest while placing her down to take her jeans off.

"I want you to fuck me on the couch." Chloe said.

"The bed is probably more comfortable." Beca noted as she continued to kiss Chloe's chest.

"You want to take me up all the way to the bedroom?" Chloe said noticing that her wife was still kissing her chest.

"Good point," Beca said taking her wife to the couch. "This never happened. The kids shall never know about this."

"Yes." Chloe agreed, running her hands over her wife's covered back, "You're wearing too many clothes," Chloe said unbuttoning her shirt and jeans, shoving both of them off the music producer's body.

Beca then shimmied out of her clothing and then kissed her wife softly and passionately on the lips before kissing down her neck as she got rid of the redhead's bra, taking a nipple into her mouth.

"Oh Beca," Chloe moaned out.

Beca smiled while taking the other nipple into her mouth as Chloe's hands found her wife's hair.

"Tell me what you want," Beca mumbled as she kissed down her wife's body.

"I want your tongue inside me." Chloe said as Beca used her mouth to take off Chloe's underwear. _"Now."_

Beca knew that voice that emphasized now, she knew that she wasn't in the mood to be teased tonight. The music producer then shoved her tongue in her wife's core.

"Oh _fuck, fuck, fuck._ " Chloe said. "K-k-keep go-going."

Beca smirked as she continued her work between her wife's legs. Her tongue going in and out, Chloe's hands tugging at brunette hair.

Beca then kissed her way up back to Chloe's mouth while shoving two fingers into her wife, "I love you, Chloe Mitchell-Beale." She whispered.

"I love you too, Beca Mitchell-Beale." Chloe said. "I'm close."

"Yeah?" Beca asked while moving her fingers inside her wife. Chloe nodded, not trusting her voice. Beca kissed her neck and the whispered directly into her ear, "Come for me, baby. Let it all go."

Beca loved the look on Chloe's face when she's about to orgasm. While it had its tense look to it, it also was relaxed and beautiful.

"Oh god, I'm coming." Chloe yelled out.

As Chloe was coming down from her high, Beca brushed red locks of hair out of the woman's face. When Chloe had come down, she said, "This was better than our wedding night."

"Every single time I can get you to orgasm is better than the last," Beca said with a small smirk on her face.

Chloe leaned up and kissed her wife hard and passionately before flipping them over, "Yeah, you're right." The vice principal said kissing down the music producer neck blindly getting rid of her bra and underwear.

Chloe took time kissing every single part of Beca's body, she knew that the brunette loved this, and after everything that had happened that weekend, she wanted her wife to know just how much she loved her.

Chloe softly shoved two fingers into her wife, "Ooh," Beca let out not realizing what was happened at first.

Chloe was in a rhythm on how her fingers worked through her wife and the moans coming out of the woman under her.

"I love you," Chloe said as she kissed her wife's body and her fingers worked in and out of her.

"I - lo-ove - you - too." Beca got out.

Chloe kissed Beca before taking her fingers out of her and began sucking on her clit.

 _"Fuck."_ Beca swore out loud. _"Holy shit."_ She swore when Chloe shoved her tongue into her. "Keep - keep going, baby." Beca's hands found red hair and ran her hands through it. "Oh god, I'm close." Beca said after several minutes.

Chloe resumed her original position removing her mouth from Beca's core replacing it with her two fingers and she kissed Beca's neck and whispered, "Come for me, my love."

When Beca finally let go, Chloe was kissing her to bring her down from her high and then cuddled into the brunette as she caught her breath. They fell asleep happier than ever. Ignoring the fact that the next day they were going back into reality in LA, not knowing what they were going home to.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** Hope that was worth the wait.

I want to explore the aspect of Micah actually letting Beca and Chloe in and maybe in the process letting Cody let them in too. I've got plans for this family, don't worry! :D

Until next time...


	16. The Downward Spiral

**A/n:** Here we go, I apologize in advance for the angst.

* * *

 **Chapter Sixteen: The Downward Spiral**

When Beca and Chloe got home, Aubrey and Emily sat them down to tell them what Sarah left behind for him. Both of them, angry and confused on why she would do such a thing, but more hurt for their son.

Mainly because he was already, at that time, spiraling downhill.

He buried himself under his AP classes at school and football practice. He had received the scholarship that West Point was offering him and then spent his entire time focusing on that and football.

Beca and Chloe were worried.

Cody, who hadn't been particularly happy about the entire ordeal, was definitely worried.

Taylor, Parker, and Dani, who knew little about the situation were worried.

Aubrey and Emily who had been there with this whole thing from the beginning were more than worried.

When Micah Benjamin Mitchell-Beale spiraled downhill, it wasn't pretty, in fact it was scary.

* * *

Micah never thought he'd find himself here, sitting in Chloe's office as she was vice principal, he wasn't necessarily in trouble, but he was on the verge of something not good.

"Do you want to explain to me why your English teacher sent you to me?" Chloe asked softly. She received a grunt from her son, "Do you want to explain to me why your English teacher sent you to me before or after Mama gets here?" Chloe rephrased her question with an eyebrow raise and picking up her office phone.

"You know Mama wouldn't leave a session to deal with this when you can deal with it yourself," Micah shot back.

"It's a good thing she took today off then, now isn't it?" Chloe said raising her eyebrow again.

"You wouldn't," Micah challenged.

Chloe simply picked up the phone and her voice quickly turned professional, "Hi Beca, this is Chloe." Beat. "There's been a situation with your son, I need you to get down here as soon as possible." Beat. "Sounds good." Beat and her voice turned unprofessional. "I love you." Beat. "See you soon."

Chloe hung up the phone and then looked at her wide-eyed son and all Chloe did was nod her head.

Micah slouched in his chair not saying anything, Chloe knew that Beca could get whatever it is out of him, so she decided to work on a couple of things before her wife showed up.

When Beca showed up 45 minutes later, Micah was in the fetal position trying not to cry.

"Hi," the music producer said as Chloe let her in.

Chloe shut the door behind her and gave her a chaste kiss, "Hi." Chloe whispered.

"What's going on here?" Beca asked looking over at their son who hadn't moved from the fetal position.

"He was sent to me by his English teacher who thought he was going to lunge at another student," Chloe said leading Beca to the chair next to Micah.

Beca sat down next to her son and put a hand on his back and said, "Hey bubba, can I get you to look at me?" Micah stayed still, "Micah," the music producer said softly yet firmly. Micah slowly looked at his mama, "There are those brown eyes that I love." She softly ran her hand through his short, thick hair and then said, "What happened?"

"I'm just having a bad day that's all." Micah mumbled.

"Yeah?" Beca said softly. "Tell me about it."

Chloe watched her wife in awe because here the music producer was taking time to talk to their son, who yes, at first she wasn't the fondest of, but somewhere along the line, Micah wormed his way into her heart. The love that Beca Mitchell-Beale had for her son was evident from the outside looking in.

"I -" Micah took a deep breath, "I'm fine."

"I'm not," Beca said seeing her son like this. "What happened? Why did your English teacher send you to Mom?"

"We were reading a story about how two parents left their kids alone," Micah said, "because they didn't want them." Both Beca and Chloe's eyes widened a little, "and then Emerson said that is the exact reason why there are such things as foster kids because their parents didn't want them. She looked directly at me the entire time. And then -" He took a shaky deep breath, "and then, I lost control and if Cody wasn't sitting behind me, I would've lunged at her. I know I should exert some self-control, but-"

"It's still too soon." Beca said after swallowing when the boy didn't finish his sentence. Beca took a deep breath and then said, "You know _we_ want you, right? Mom and I? Your sisters? Cody? We _all_ want you."

Micah shot up and walked to the window that overlooked the freshman quad, he placed his fists on the windowsill, trying to steady his breathing.

After what felt like hours, really two minutes later, Micah finally got out, "Why am I never good enough? I try, I try, and I try again. I'd like to think that I'm a good person. I'd like to think that I'm not unlikeable. That people don't just say things to watch me react." He turned back to both of his mothers, who wore concerned looks on their faces, "Why am I not good enough?" He left that statement with a sob.

Beca was immediately at his side, wrapping her strong arms around the boy, "I got you. Mama's got you." She said while rocking him back and forth. After she got him to calm down with reassurances and temple kisses, she turned to her wife, "Sign him out for the rest of the day. Have Cody get his homework from his teachers. I'm taking him home. I'll leave his keys with you so that you and Cody can get home."

Chloe, who normally would be reluctant to agree, simply just nodded her head, "Anything you want baby." She said kissing Micah's forehead and walking out to the main office.

* * *

Beca got Micah home and led him to her at-home studio's couch, so that she could look after him while she was working from home. He fell asleep pretty quickly when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

 _[Chloe, November 18th, 12:54pm]: Is he okay? I feel like I might've been too hard on him._

 _[Beca, November 18th, 12:54pm]: He's asleep now. Didn't say anything on the way home. And don't beat yourself up, beautiful. He's spiraling downhill right now. It's not your fault. x x_

 _[Chloe, November 18th, 12:55pm]: He didn't even kiss me goodbye though._

Beca sighed, it wasn't a lie, and she could feel her wife's hurt.

 _Why do these kids always tend to hurt the most beautiful woman in the world?_ Beca thought before texting her wife back.

 _[Beca, November 18th, 12:56pm]: He's spiraling downhill. He didn't mean to hurt you. I know it'll be hard, but try to get some work done, okay? I've got our baby boy handled._

 _[Chloe, November 18th, 12:58pm]: Okay. I love you. x x_

 _[Beca, November 18th, 12:58pm]: x x Love you beautiful._

Beca went back to working on that song she needed to get done that day. Every so often she found herself looking over her shoulder to see Micah passed out on the couch. When she finished the majority of it, she got up and went to the coffee table in front of where Micah was sleeping. She noticed a piece of paper sticking out of his pocket and she carefully took it out of his pocket, surprised that she didn't wake him.

She saw the envelope that read, _Micah_ on it and then went inside the envelope and saw the infamous letter from Sarah:

 _My Little Prince,_

 _If you are reading this that means that I let the drug and alcohol addiction take over me and I am know longer with you._

 _I know you are mad at me for what I did to you and your sister and rightfully so. I'm glad you found home with Beca and Chloe, I'm sure they could be better mothers to you than I am to you._

 _The truth is, I never really wanted to be a mother to you. You were such a surprise to our lives. I always convinced myself to love you and maybe at the end I truly did love you, but I really only wanted your sister. And I know it doesn't make any sense because I went out of my way to try to see you over the last year. And maybe I loved you a little, but it was hard for me to do._

 _I hope you succeed far in your life and I hope Beca and Chloe give you the love that I could never give you and I'm sorry for the drama I caused your family._

 _Sincerely,_

 _-Sarah_

Anger bubbled up into Beca she placed the letter on the table and managed to get Micah's head on her chest and just held him while he slept.

"Oh bubba," Beca whispered. "Your mom and I love you so much. No matter what Sarah thought."

Beca dropped three kisses to his forehead and just held him for awhile.

* * *

"Is - is he okay?" Cody asked as he drove himself and Chloe home later that evening.

"Not really," Chloe said. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"It started off okay, but then Emerson took it over the line just to watch him snap. If I didn't put my hands on his shoulders to rub some tension out of them, it would've ended up him being suspended and losing his scholarship." He said. "She really knows how to anger him. I - I've never seen him like that."

Chloe put a motherly hand on the boy's thigh and said, "She thought I took him in because I pitied him."

"Y'know, she's pretty and smart, but she's pretty evil." Cody said as he turned into the long driveway of the Mitchell-Beale residence.

"Yeah, I'm not necessarily a fan of her, especially when she purposely hurts one of my babies." Chloe said as Cody parked Micah's jeep in its usual spot.

They both got out of the car to see Beca leaning against the garage door sipping a beer. Chloe came behind her and kissed her neck, "Hi beautiful." Beca said then turning her head over, "Hey Code."

"Hi." Cody said looking into the garage to see his boyfriend punching the life out of a punching bag. "So...?"

"He's angry." Beca said. "And I know it's something you don't wanna hear, but give him some space." Cody bit his lip, yeah, that wasn't what he wanted to hear, but if Beca was telling him to give Micah some space, it had to be bad.

"How bad is it?" Cody asked.

"Really bad and I found the letter." Beca said pulling it out of her back pocket.

Both Chloe and Cody were at the letter in an instant, both of them reading it, when they were done, Cody was shaking in anger, but soon calm himself down and said, "Lemme help you take care of him."

"Code," Beca tried.

"He's my boyfriend, lemme help, please." Cody said.

"Okay," Beca said. "See if you can try to get him to stop beating up the punching bag."

"Okay," Cody said, walking towards the boy.

"Aubrey and Emily are bringing dinner," Beca said to Chloe turning in her arms.

"Really?" Chloe asked. Beca nodded giving her wife a small kiss. "They've been together a lot more."

"We've got our hands full, Aubrey is helping Emily through the whole Benji situation." Beca said softly.

"How do you know that?" Chloe asked.

"Aubrey spends her lunch break bringing Emily lunch and making sure she's eating it and I think Aubrey's been at Emily's condo more than her own apartment as of late. It's lonely for her without Parker." Beca said.

"Oh," Chloe said.

"Yeah, I'm glad Emily has someone, but I do feel a little guilty that it's not us, not me." Beca said.

"Yeah," Chloe said.

"They're bringing all of Micah's comfort food." Beca said. Chloe nodded, her mind still reeling from the lack of love that Micah gave her when Beca was ushering him out of her office, "Hey," Beca said using a hand to hold Chloe's chin, "what's wrong?"

"Why do they always push _me_ away?" Chloe asked. "Micah. Dani. They don't push you away, but they always push me away."

"If it means anything, when something's wrong with Taylor, she pushes _me_ away and always comes to you." Beca said and then sighed, "I don't have an answer for you, beautiful."

"I'm going to go get comfortable," Chloe said stepping back.

"Hey," Beca said pulling her wife into her again, "I love you."

"I love you too." Chloe said kissing Beca softly before going inside the house to change.

Beca turned back to the boys and saw that Cody was on the ground with Micah in his lap, crying into the blonde boy's shoulder. She gave them some time to calm down following her wife into the house with her can of beer in hand.

* * *

"Thank you for this," Chloe said softly to both Aubrey and Emily.

"Of course," Aubrey said wrapping an arm around Chloe. "Anything to help out."

"Yeah, it's what we're here for." Emily added with a soft smile.

"So, how bad is it?" Aubrey asked.

"He's angry," Chloe said sinking into her best friend's embrace. "Feels unwanted."

Beca came back into the kitchen and saw the food, "Thank you both." She said.

"No problem," Emily said coming to wrap her business partner in a side hug.

"Yeah Bec," Aubrey said, "anything to help."

"I'll go get the boys." Beca said.

When Beca walked out back to the pool house where the boys were, Aubrey asked, "I know this is none of my business, but with everything that you two, this family, have been through this year, how are you and Beca _really_ doing?"

"We're actually better than ever." Chloe said honestly. "All of this has just brought us closer together."

"Yeah?" Aubrey said.

Chloe nodded, "We spend every night together. We spend every Sunday cuddled on the couch all day. She takes good care of me." She said.

"It feels like one thing after another here." Emily said. "I'm surprised that Beca is keeping it together."

"She's broken down a couple of times," Chloe said. "She'll deny it, but she has. When it's just me and her."

"I'm glad you two have each other," Aubrey said. "I'll be honest, I was really skeptical when you first told me that you were with Beca, but now I see how she takes care of you and you take care of her, and I know it was the right move."

"Thanks Bree." Chloe said.

"Y'know, she came to ask my permission to marry you?" Aubrey said.

Chloe's eyes perked up, "She did?"

Aubrey smiled a half-smile and nodded, "At the retreat. Before the campfire."

"What did you say?" Chloe asked.

"That I'd be crazy to say no." Aubrey responded. "She really completes you, Chlo."

Chloe smiles as Beca brings the boys in for dinner, "I really love her, Bree."

* * *

"Thanks for dinner," Cody said to Aubrey and Emily.

"Yeah, thanks." Micah said.

"You're welcome," both Aubrey and Emily said.

The four women were having a conversation about a single that Emily was producing and Micah whispered, "So how bad was it when Miss Davis sent me to my mom?"

"You don't really wanna know, baby." Cody said kissing his forehead. Micah raised an eyebrow, "I don't want to upset you." That made him raise both of his eyebrows. Cody sighed, "Everybody around us called you a mommy's boy-cop-out."

Micah then quickly pushed himself up from the table, stopping Emily mid-sentence, "What? What's going on?" Beca asked as Micah left the room.

"I told him that he didn't want to know," Cody said getting up. "I'll deal with it."

"What happened?" Beca asked again.

Cody sighed and said, "He asked me how bad it was after he was sent to Chloe today and I didn't want to tell him the truth because, well, that." He gestured to his empty seat.

"How bad did it get?" Chloe asked softly.

Cody roughly rubbed his face and said, "He was a called a 'mommy's boy-cop-out' as soon as he left the room."

"Excuse me?" Chloe said.

"Look, I didn't want to tell him, but he practically insisted." Cody said scratching his neck.

"It's okay honey," Beca said.

Cody felt awkward and said, "Can - can I go check on him?"

"Of course bud." Beca said. "I got this."

Cody all, but ran out of the room to catch up with Micah, and Chloe stood up going to the counter grabbing it.

"Chlo?" Beca said coming behind her. "Baby?"

"I can't right now, Bec." Chloe said.

"Hey," Beca said, "you can't do this. You can't just shut me out."

"I just can't right now baby," Chloe said. "My heart hurts too much."

"Then let me help you carry that burden." Beca said. Chloe looked over her shoulder at her wife, the vulnerability in the brunette's eyes, the willingness to help, "Let me help you carry that burden." She repeated. "You aren't in this alone."

Beca's arms were spread wide waiting for Chloe to come into them, when the redhead got there, she collapsed into the brunette's arms, finding her safe harbor. Finding home.

* * *

Meanwhile, Cody was holding an equally distraught Micah in his room. He's held the slightly bigger boy more in than last two weeks than he's ever let him hold him in the last three months of their relationship and it's not that Cody's complaining, but he wished the circumstances were less shitty.

"I'm surprised it was you that came after me," Micah then suddenly said.

"Yeah?" Cody said running fingers through his hair.

"I was sure it was going to be one or both of my moms." He said.

"Your mom isn't doing so well right now," Cody said. "Your mama is down there dealing with it. You're pushing her away, babe."

"She's the one that brought me in, like Sarah brought me into the world, and she never wanted me. I'm scared that it'll happen again." Micah said.

"It won't." Cody said.

"You don't know that." Micah said.

"Do you understand what adoption means?" Cody said. "They aren't just going to leave you high and dry. If they didn't want you, Chloe wouldn't have brought you here."

Silence filled the room. Neither one of them talked about their time in the foster care system. It was almost like an unspoken thing, they won't talk about it until they're ready.

And Micah was more than ready because it was weighing heavy on his chest.

"I'm used to being walked out on, put down, cast aside. That was my life before my mom gave me the best chance possible." Micah said.

"Mmhm." Cody said letting his boyfriend know that he's listening.

"For awhile, I let my guard down too quickly, so, consequently I've been hurt a lot." Micah said as Cody dropped a kiss to his forehead. "And I try not to think about my past a lot because it's not that interesting in my opinion. I'm just the kid who's dad died, who's mom was always on drugs, and was placed in the foster care system."

"Mhm." Cody said rocking him slightly back and forth.

"I've never even been something to any of my foster parents and then it took some time, but when I got here I was everything to my moms, everything to my sisters, everything to my Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily. And now, everything to you." He looked up and gave the boy a small smile. "I always thought that I'd just find my way in the military somehow. And maybe find somebody to settle down with and be a better parent than what I was giving before the Mitchell-Beale's. And now, I just don't know anymore. If the woman who gave birth to me didn't even want me, why should anybody else?"

Micah sat up and created a little space between the two of them and then said, "Then I just realized that it is love and trust." He ran a hand through his hair and then looked over at Cody, who smiled, and then said, for the first time, "I love you."

"I love you too, baby." He said.

The stared at each other for a moment before Micah leaned and gave Cody a soft kiss before pulling away, resting his forehead on the soccer player's forehead, "I'm sorry for being so stubborn." Micah said. "I'm sorry for taking a lot out on you."

"I'm glad you trust me enough to do so," Cody said.

"We should probably get back down there." Micah said.

"Yeah, but can we cuddle for a little while longer? Our food can wait." Cody said just wanting to hold the boy.

"Okay," Micah said lying back with Cody placing his head on his chest.

* * *

"Mom?" Micah said coming into the den downstairs where Chloe was cuddled into Beca sitting across from Aubrey and Emily.

"Yeah bub?" Chloe said.

"May I steal you for a moment?" He asked softly, biting his lip, almost expecting her to say no.

"Of course," Chloe said, leaving Beca's embrace, passing Cody, subtly shoving him in the direction of Beca's arms.

Cody chuckled and took the hint and found himself in Beca's arms.

Micah led Chloe to the backyard patio and along the way place his arm around her shoulder and they sat on the swing out back. Micah knew it was Chloe's favorite spot outside of Beca's arms.

"So, what's up?" Chloe asked.

Micah thought about what he was going to say. He knew the two of them needed to talk, but he didn't know where to start.

"I don't intentionally push you away." Micah blurted out sooner than he wanted to.

"Then why do you?" Chloe asked softly.

"Because if the woman who gave birth to me didn't want me, why would you?" Micah asked the question that had been asked rhetorically before and had been rolling around in his head for the last couple of weeks.

"I love you." Chloe said simply.

"I know, I love you too, Mom. And I'm sorry." Micah said.

"It's fine. You've been leaning on Mama a lot lately and not that it's a bad thing, but it does kinda hurt a little." Chloe said.

"Mama doesn't know how to give us space when we're going through something." He said.

"Sorry about that." Chloe said. "She didn't used to be like that. I rubbed off on her."

"It reminds me what home is," Micah said with a small shrug. "But, I'm still scared. Scared that if I fail even a little that you'll end up like Sarah, not wanting me."

"You know, it's not the same thing, but in college I intentionally failed Russian Lit three times because I rather of failed at Barden than real life?" Chloe said. "I feared that if I failed even a little bit, that your mama wouldn't love me anymore."

"Really?" Micah asked. His mom always seemed more confident than his mama.

She nodded her head, "Being able to trust anybody in any way is hard." Chloe said pulling him into her arms.

Silence fell over them before, "Things have been really sucky lately." Micah said. "And I've been nothing, but an angry asshat."

"I'd say that's a strong statement," Chloe said. "Yes, you've been angry, but not an asshat."

"I love you, Mom." Micah said.

"I love you too, babe." Chloe said kissing the top of her son's head.

They sit there for awhile just enjoying the moment before going in to join their family.

* * *

The next day, Beca was in the studio getting coffee when Jesse came in to get tea.

"Hey Beca," Jesse said.

"Hey Jesse," Beca said not looking up from her cup of coffee. "May I ask you something?" She asked after a moment.

"Sure." Jesse said. "Shoot."

"Why Legacy Records?" Beca asked. "You could've chosen any other record company in Los Angeles and yet you choose mine. Why?"

"You sell singles. You do whatever it takes to get them out there. You care about your clients, it's been said on every talk show. And to be quite honest, if I showed up at your doorstep after twenty years, I didn't think Chloe would allow you to accept my deepest and heartfelt apology."

"Jesse-" Beca tried.

"No, please, let me get this out." Jesse said and Beca just nodded, "I was an ass to you. After you broke up with me to go to Chloe, I was nothing, but an ass to you. I'd see you at hood night or some other party we threw and I would see how Chloe would be hanging all over you and I would always get so jealous. Jealous that you found love I could never give you. I spiraled downhill and out of control after college and then I found love in my wife and now we have two beautiful boys together and I realized that I still felt guilty on how I treated you. So, I'm sorry. I'm not asking for more than a producer-artist/band relationship with you. But, what you and Emily have done here in the last ten years is absolutely incredible."

Beca smiled a half smile and stuck out her fist for a fist bump, "I forgave you a long time ago, Jesse. I'm sorry I never showed it to you and you've spent the last twenty plus years subconsciously and consciously beating yourself up about it. Chloe, on the other hand, will have to take some time. There were many parties that I stayed sober so that she wouldn't literally lunge at you."

Jesse returned the fist bump, "If you forgave me a long time ago, why does it seem like you're frustrated with me a lot?" He asked.

"Because dude, it doesn't take five times to get through a chorus of a song." Beca said. "Get your shit together, Swanson." Beca turned to leave the break room and then stopped and turned, "And you're right, Chloe probably wouldn't allow me to accept your apology at first, but she's still Chloe, she'll get over whatever she has against you soon enough."

Jesse smiled as he watched his ex-girlfriend and now producer leave the room.

As Beca walked away, she thought, _Maybe this isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be._

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** Yeah, let's just say that this chapter got to you a little quicker because I don't want to be writing my history paper on The Battle of Pittsburg Landing right now. And I'm not even sure how I like this chapter anyway.

Next up: Dani comes home, Christmas in the Mitchell-Beale household, and more!


	17. The Art of Surrendering

**A/N:** Here we go..

And yeah, minimal angst, but it's something I've been wanting to explore since before I started this story. It just needed to build for 16 chapters.

* * *

 **Chapter Seventeen: The Art of Surrendering**

"At some point you have to stop fighting, and learn to surrender."

That's what Dani taught her sister and brothers when she came home from the treatment center. It was Christmas Eve when Dani was checked out and on her way home. And, in those three months that she was there she learned a lot.

When they pulled into the long driveway up to the house, Dani started to panic a little, she hadn't been here since she ran away. Taylor was home for the semester break and was sleeping from what the moms said. Micah was playing video games with Parker in the game room. And Cody was at work.

When the moms came and picked her up, they felt a little apprehension, but didn't say much.

Before they stepped into the house, Beca stopped Dani and said, "Hey, are you okay?"

"It's just weird being back here." Dani said.

"Well sissy and bubba can't wait to see you," Chloe said trying to cheer the girl up. "Cody and Parker can't wait either."

Dani bit her lip still nervous and Beca then grabbed her face and said, "We got you, no matter where life goes, we got you, okay? Do you trust us?"

"I do." Dani said.

"Then come on," Beca said. "We need to get you settled in."

The three walked inside to yelling, something that they weren't expecting, "Well, if you weren't such an asshat that pushed people away, we wouldn't even be having this conversation at all." Taylor yelled at her brother.

"You don't even know what you're talking about," Micah yelled back.

"I do know that I was on the phone with Mom and she was worried that you'd do something stupid." Taylor yelled back.

Parker was standing in the entryway of the kitchen, leaning against the wall texting his mom whilst his fiancé and her brother argued about Micah's lack of control in his life when it came to his anger.

"What's going on?" Beca whispered to Parker.

"Not sure," Parker said. "She's been taking cheap shots at him since she woke up."

"I'm not even going to continue this conversation with you." Micah said somewhat calmly.

"That's just because you're a cop-out." Taylor shot back.

Anger rose in Micah, he's always kept his anger in check with his sisters and his moms, not just because they were females, but because he had really grown to love his family.

Parker and Beca saw this as Chloe kept Dani in the living room while it happened and Beca walked in front of Micah and grabbed his face before saying, "I need you to breathe." She turned to Parker, "Get Taylor out of here." Parker literally swept his fiancé off her feet and carried her bridal style upstairs to her room. "Bubba," Beca said softly.

"I need a minute, Mama." Micah said calmly. "I need a moment."

"Okay, take a breather outside." Beca said.

Micah walked out back and then Beca turned to her wife and youngest daughter, "What was that about?" Chloe asked softly.

"I'm not entirely sure. Parker said that she's been taking cheap shots at Micah since she woke up." Beca said.

"I'm just gonna go to room and unpack," Dani said picking up her duffle bag and backpack.

"Okay princess," Beca said. "We'll come check on you in a little while, alright?"

Dani nodded and Chloe said, "Oh wait, here." She handed the girl back her cellphone. "It's time we give you a little more freedom."

"Thanks Mom." The girl said as Chloe kissed her forehead.

Dani walked out of the room and Beca was looking out to their son, Chloe came behind her wife and placed her chin on the music producer's shoulder, "Who should go to who?" Beca asked.

"Well, you did say about a month ago that Taylor opens up to me more than you, so do you want me to handle her wrath and you can go cuddle with our baby boy until Cody gets home?" Chloe said.

"I guess." Beca said. "This wasn't the homecoming I was hoping for Dani."

"I know, but something's been off with Taylor for awhile now." Chloe said. "She's been off since before Harvard. I'll talk to her, you talk to him."

"Okay," Beca said as Chloe peppers her shoulder in kisses. "I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

Chloe goes upstairs and sees Taylor's door half-open, she knocks on it, to see Parker holding the girl, and Taylor still fuming.

"Hi Aunt Chloe," Parker said. "I'll give you two space."

"I'm sure Dani would love to see you," Chloe said, knowing that the older boy had become an older brother type to her youngest daughter.

"Oh yeah," Parker said. "She in her room?"

"Yeah," Chloe said kissing his cheek as he passed her.

The boy left the room and Chloe took a deep breath and turned to her oldest daughter, who had curled into a ball facing away from Chloe. The redhead sat down on the bed and lied behind the girl. This was the dance they did. Taylor didn't get mad often, but when she did, she would curl in a ball away from Chloe, the mother would lie behind her, and eventually, depending on how mad Taylor was, she would turn and face Chloe and curl into her with her head on her mother's chest.

Six minutes is how long it took this time and once Chloe wrapped her arms around the girl, Taylor's face was already buried into her mother's chest.

"Talk to me baby girl," Chloe whispered. "Tell me what you're thinking, what's got you so amped up?"

"It's just going to sound selfish," Taylor mumbled.

"Tell me anyway," Chloe whispered.

Taylor took a deep breath as Chloe ran fingers through her blonde hair, "Do I have to have shit thrown at me to get your and Mama's attention?" She asked what's been on her mind since she watch her brother bury his birth mother.

"What?" Chloe asked.

"You know every time I call back home, something has happened here? Dani ran away, Cody moves in, Micah's birth mother actually never wanted him. You rarely ask how my classes are going and that's only after 25 minutes of one of you venting at me. One time I actually called because I needed someone other than my fiancé or Aunt Stacie to tell me that everything was going to be alright because I got a C- on a paper that I busted my ass to write. I needed you or Mama to tell me that it wasn't the end of the world, but Micah's birth mother never wanted him and he got your attention because he was here in California and I was in Massachusetts trying to keep my shit together. It almost made me not want to call home anymore." Taylor then sighed, "See? It sounds selfish."

"Is that why you opted to stay with Aunt Stacie for Thanksgiving?" Chloe asked softly. Taylor nodded hesitantly. "Why - why didn't you say anything?" Chloe asked.

"I didn't want to sound selfish." Taylor said.

"Baby girl," Chloe breathed.

Taylor let out a sob, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She let out.

Chloe then got the girl cradled in her arms and rocked her back and forth, whispering comforting words in her ear as she calmed down.

After awhile Taylor settled down and Chloe asked, "Why are you taking it out on Micah?"

"I don't know really." Taylor said. "I know it's shitty of me."

"I wish you would've told me," Chloe said. "I understand why you didn't, but I wish you would have."

"You wear your heart on your arm, Mom." Taylor said. "I've always wanted a brother, but why did he have to come so broken?"

"I wish I had an answer for you baby girl," Chloe kissed the girl's forehead, pulled her closer, and said, "So, how did your first semester of college go?"

Taylor smiled weakly, she was still mad, but it was a start.

* * *

Beca gave her son twenty minutes before heading out to the grass where he was lying, looking at the clouds. She went and put her head next to his head, but lying in the opposite direction.

"I used to lie out on the football field at South Los Angeles after school because at least I didn't have to go back to abusive foster homes." Micah said randomly. "I used to pretend I could ride on them, wind in my face, nothing could stop me now." Beca sensed he still had a little more to say, "I know I should grow a little thicker skin, but it hurts when someone you love and care about calls you a cop-out."

"Can I hold you?" Beca then asked suddenly. Micah shifted so that he was still lying on the grass and she was holding her son. "I remember the night that I brought it up to your mom that I wanted us to adopt you."

"Yeah?" Micah said.

"Yeah, it was the best night of my life. I thought your mom was going to explode in excitement." Beca said running her hands through his hair.

 _Chloe was leaning against Beca in the tub, they both were drinking a glass of wine and Beca was rubbing knots out of Chloe's shoulders._

 _Chloe hummed, "You're really good at that," she murmured._

 _"I learned from the best." Beca said. Silence filled the bathroom as the music producer got her wife to relax, after awhile, Beca suddenly said, "We don't need that extra paycheck a month that the state gives us for Micah."_

 _"It's just protocol, love." Chloe said._

 _"I don't want him to have to live with protocols Chlo." Beca said._

 _"He's a ward to the state, his mom isn't going to fight for him. She can't really." Chloe said. "She's not planning on getting sober anytime soon, at least that what he says."_

 _"I want to make him ours." Beca suddenly said._

 _Chloe turned to face her wife, "What?" She asked a little stunned._

 _"Do you know he still lives out of his beat up duffle bag because he's afraid that we're going to send him away?" Beca asked._

 _"Did he tell you that?" Chloe asked._

 _"No, I put his folded clean clothes on his bed, but when I walked in to tell him that dinner was ready tonight, I saw him putting them back in his duffle bag." Beca said. "I didn't ask him why, but when I passed by his room later on, I heard him playing video games with his friends and he alluded to it."_

 _"We told him that this was his last foster home before aging out, that we wouldn't send him back into the system again." Chloe said._

 _"Chlo, we need to adopt him." Beca said with real sincerity in her voice. "He can't live like this, he shouldn't have to."_

 _"Are you being serious right now?" Chloe asked with a smiled._

 _"Micah Forrester has managed to do something that only you had to ever do, he wormed his way into my heart and now I never want to let him go. I want him to be Micah Mitchell-Beale." Beca said. "I want to adopt him. I know I wasn't necessarily cool with the idea of fostering him at first, but watching him put his clean clothes into his duffle bag. I - I can't watch that again."_

 _Chloe kissed her wife hard and after making out for a minute, she pulled back, "I already know their answer, but we should make sure that it's okay with the girls." The redhead said. "I didn't think there was a way for me to fall more in love with you Bec."_

 _Beca smiled, "It's not what I was doing it for, but does this mean I can get laid tonight?" The brunette asked._

 _"Oh most definitely." Chloe said kissing her wife again._

"What made you finally want to adopt me?" Micah asked pulling Beca out of that memory. "If you don't mind me asking."

"You were living out of your duffle bag and that's no way to live." Beca said softly.

* * *

Dinner that night was tense to say the least. Parker had gone home to have dinner with Emily and Cody was giving the family of five some time to be a family of five again.

"It's good to have you home, bud." Micah said to Dani.

"Yeah, definitely." Taylor said.

"Thanks," Dani said. "Where's Cody?"

"Working on his senior project," Micah said. "He's having some trouble adjusting to living here."

"At least he doesn't have a birth mom to cling to," Taylor mumbled making the boy's head snap up from his plate.

"What did you say?" Micah asked.

"Baby girl, don't." Chloe said knowing full well what she was doing.

"You alright, Tay?" Beca asked. Chloe hadn't told her about what their oldest daughter was feeling yet. "All I've heard you do is take cheap shots at your brother today."

"Does it matter anyway?" Taylor asked, angrily.

Chloe had sat next to Taylor in case this happened, she wrapped her arm around her oldest daughter, and whispered in her ear, "I need you to breathe and not talk to your mama and brother like that, okay?" Taylor tried to get up, but with Chloe's arm around her was pulled back down, "You know the rules, no leaving in the middle of dinner."

"Tay," Beca said, "what's going on?"

"Nothing," Taylor muttered.

"It's not nothing," Chloe corrected. "A lot of shit has been thrown at this family this year. Especially you two," she said looking at the two other children. "And you and I haven't been balancing it as well as we thought." She said to Beca. "It's why she didn't come home for Thanksgiving."

"You said you had a lot of end of the semester projects," Beca said to Taylor remembering being a little sad that she was opting to spend the holiday with Stacie and her boyfriend instead of the family.

"I did," Taylor said. And it wasn't a lie, "but Parker and I talked about it and even he suggested that I don't come home for Thanksgiving."

"Why?" Beca said, now hurt.

"Because I call home once a week to hear you two vent about how shitty life is for these two," she said gesturing to her siblings. "I can't do this anymore."

"Tay," Beca breathed.

"I can't." Taylor said with tears in her eyes. "I maybe an adult now, but I can't handle the baggage it causes from almost 3,000 miles away. I - I can't." She looked at her mama with tears in her eyes, "I can't handle the baggage of this family and then try to keep my shit together to keep my scholarship, to stay on top of school without much emotional support from this family, I - I can't."

Taylor managed to get out from under Chloe's arm and out of the room and up the stairs. The kitchen was still, the only movement came from Dani as she was eating what was on her plate and had been paying attention, but acting like she hadn't been. When she looked up and saw her moms and brother not moving much, she said, "She has a point, you know." Three heads snapped in the direction of the youngest of the Mitchell-Beale family. "That's a lot of burden for her to carry."

"Princess," Beca said remembering the girl was there.

"She's 18." Dani said. "I get that shit was running high here for awhile. And I'm sorry for running, I'll probably be apologizing for awhile, but Taylor still has stuff going on her life in Massachusetts. She can lean on Aunt Stacie and Parker, but that's not enough. She still needs us. She still need you two," she said gesturing between her moms. "Ever since she graduated, you've been focused on me and then you'd switch to Micah. That's not fair to Taylor."

She then softly turned to her brother, "And you gotta stop shutting these two out." She said softly. "I know it's hard, to let your guard down fully, but you gotta let these two love you, be there for you. Be honest with them and be honest with yourself. You want to know what I learned while I was away?" She still looked at him, he nodded and Dani said, "At some point you have to stop fighting and learn how to surrender. Surrender your feelings, surrender your thoughts, let that guard down fully." She then turned to her moms who were in awe of their not-so-little girl sitting in front of them, "You should go after her." She said referring to Taylor.

Beca and Chloe slowly got up, each going over to Dani, giving her a kiss on the side of her head, murmuring I love you into her ear before going off to deal with Taylor.

Micah then placed an arm around his sister while they both finished their dinners. Not really knowing that Cody, who had come in to get his food out of the main house refridgerator had heard the entire thing and began to think of what the younger girl had said.

* * *

Beca and Chloe walked hand-in-hand up to Taylor's room, the door was slightly cracked and when they knocked on it to open the door, they saw Taylor packing a duffle bag.

"Um, where exactly are you going?" Beca asked.

"Parker and Aunt Emily's." Taylor said not looking up.

"Baby girl, let's talk." Beca said. "Don't run away from this."

"Why? You're just going to tell me that my anger is misplaced and I should go easy on Micah because life has thrown shit at him." Taylor said bitterly. "And for once, I don't want to hear it."

"Tay," Beca tried.

"You know, I remember the time where you couldn't stand him?" Taylor said. "I remember a time where Mom had to tell you to actually talk to him. What did he ever do to worm his way into your heart, huh?"

"Why are you so mad at him?" Chloe asked softly.

"I don't know!" Taylor said loud enough to make Chloe rush to her side and gather her in her arms.

"I got you," Chloe said. "Mommy's got you."

"I just - I just want you to hold me." She got out. "Both of you. That's what I need."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Beca asked softly.

"I didn't want to sound selfish." Taylor said.

Beca moved the duffle bag off the bed as Chloe got her to get down on the bed and Beca sandwiched the girl between her and her wife. The three lied there for awhile, before Beca said, "It was the little things he did. The way he would try to give the four of us some time as a family alone. The way he would shy away from your mom's touch every time she hugged him. The way he'd protect you two, subconsciously, when Parker would be an ass to you or when someone would bully Dani at school. It was the little things that managed to get him wormed in my heart."

"I always wanted a brother," Taylor said, "but I never thought what I wanted would come in the form of someone so broken."

"He's getting better." Chloe said. "You just have to give him time."

"In the meantime," Beca said, "you come to us when we're making you feel like you aren't apart of this family. You nicely tell us to change the subject when all we do is vent to you on the phone. And you come home for every holiday even if you have projects. We really have missed you, Tay."

Beca and Chloe spent the rest of the evening curled around Taylor because maybe she hasn't experienced the world like her siblings have, but even the light of sunshine that is Taylor Lee Mitchell-Beale needs her moms every once and awhile.

* * *

Early the next morning, when Beca awoke it was still in the Mitchell-Beale household. Chloe was half on top of the music producer with arms around her waist. Beca kissed the top of Chloe's head and lied there not wanting to disturb her sleeping beauty.

She thought about the moment that she fell in love with Chloe or rather the moment she _knew_ she was in love with Chloe. It took her awhile into their relationship to fall in love. The feelings of love was always there, but the moment she knew it was love, she knew she was in too far deep and there was no turning back. This time it didn't scare as much as realizing her feelings for the redhead.

 _They were cuddling in Chloe's bed after a Bella_ _rehearsal, Beca was actually having a pretty shitty day and just wanted to hold her girlfriend. They were watching some tv show on Netflix on Chloe's computer. The redhead knowing that her girlfriend just needed to hold her to calm her down from a really bad day._

 _Beca looked down at Chloe while she was watching the tv show and smiled softly. The girl in her arms did pretty much anything to make sure she was alright. They were supposed to go out on a date that night and noticing that her girlfriend was having a bad day, Chloe suggested a date night in with Netflix and cuddles._

 _The brunette didn't know what she would do if Chloe ever decided that she wasn't enough. The redhead always assured the brunette that she was all she ever needed, all she wanted, but the insecurity crept up every once in awhile._

 _Before the next episode came on, Beca murmured three words that made Chloe not want to watch the next episode that they were watching._

 _"I love you."_

 _"What?" Chloe said not believing what she was hearing._

 _"I love you." Was said more confidently._

 _Chloe kissed Beca hard while straddling her, "I love you too."_

 _Needless to say, Chloe's laptop was ignored for the rest of the night._

A few minutes later, Chloe stirred awake, pulling her out of the memory, "Morning baby." The redhead said voice still full of sleep.

"Morning beautiful." Beca said kissing her wife. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Chloe said putting her head back on her wife's chest. "You been awake long?"

"Nope." Beca said playing with red hair. "Just a few minutes."

"Whatcha thinking about?" Chloe asked.

"The first time I said _'I love you'_ to you." Beca said kissing the top of her head.

Chloe hummed, remembering that night, "I love you." She said.

"I love you too," Beca said softly. "You okay? You seem a little distant."

"I feel like a pretty shitty mom." Chloe admitted.

Beca looked down at her wife, "What?" Beca said. "You're an amazing mom."

"Yeah because the way Taylor was yesterday proves that." Chloe said.

"We're _both_ to blame for that one," Beca said softly. "It's not on you."

"She was always so understanding and we took advantage of that." Chloe said. "It's like how we were with Micah after the whole thing with Dani, but I feel worse because I have this special bond with Taylor."

Beca kissed Chloe's head pulling her closer, "We'll get through this beautiful, I know it." The music producer whispered.

* * *

Beca wasn't surprised that none of the kids wanted to get up until closer to noon, it's how Taylor and Dani have been over the last few years and she knew Micah needed some extra sleep.

She was surprised to see Cody up though, he was sitting on the swing that Chloe always sat on when she was thinking and needed space. Beca poked her head out and said, "Merry Christmas, Cody."

"Merry Christmas Beca." Cody said.

"May I join you?" She asked. "I have coffee."

"Sure, of course." Cody said nervously. He'd never spent much time alone with Beca, not ever since she gave him a subtle, _'you hurt my baby boy, I'll make you death look like an accident'_ conversation she had with him when he first moved in.

Beca handed him coffee and sat next to him, "You alright?" She asked.

Cody wanted to say 'yes' because she had enough on her plate with all three of her actual children, but then he remembered what Dani said the night before about surrendering, "Not really, no." He answered honestly.

Beca surprised by his honest answer said, "Well, is there anyway I can be there for you?"

"Christmas is never a good time for me. Not - not since my dads died." He said. "My papa died near my birthday and my dad killed himself on Christmas Day." Beca's eyes went wide, remembering how much of a physical contact, touchy-feely kind of person he was, she threw a loose arm around him. "Christmas hasn't been the same for the past 12 years." He sank into Beca's embrace a little and then added, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to put a damper on your Christmas."

"It's fine," Beca said. "It must be hard. Is that why you're choosing to work today?"

Cody nodded, "You five deserve to be a family of five while you can." He said. "Plus, it'll get my mind off of it."

"How long is your shift?" Beca asked, rubbing up and down his arm, much like she'd do for Taylor, Micah, or Dani, even Bailee if she had the opportunity to.

"Only until five." He said.

"What were you planning on doing after work?" Beca asked knowing that coming back home wasn't going to be his answer.

"My boss lets me stay afterwards and have Christmas dinner alone." Cody said.

"You know we're going to have Parker, Emily, and Aubrey over, right?" Beca said softly. "It's not just Chloe, myself, and the kids."

"I don't want to intrude." Cody said.

"Honey, you wouldn't be intruding." Beca said softly. "In fact, Chloe's not entirely happy that you are working today. And she wouldn't be happy knowing that what happened to your dad so many years ago today. Please come home after work."

Cody took a deep breath and took a sip of his coffee and said, "Okay."

"I know you got Chloe and I a physical Christmas gift, but do you know what we _really_ want from you?" She asked.

"Hmm?" Cody hummed.

"For you to open up to us and let us be there for you." Beca said, kissing the top of his head.

* * *

Cody had thought about what Beca said all throughout his shift, he then found himself at 5:01pm trying to figure out what to do. He sat in the break room of the diner debating, does he stay or does he go?

Then he got a text message from Micah, that made him change his mind completely.

 _[Micah, December 25th, 5:02pm]: I miss you._

Cody smiled at his phone, the Mitchell-Beale boy had been more open and honest about how he was feeling ever since they exchanged _I love yous_ over a month ago. Before Cody got a chance to reply, he got another text.

 _[Micah, December 25th, 5:03pm]: Come home._

Cody had never heard or seen those words come from Micah before, the Japanese American boy had never showed vulnerability, like the stories he heard about Beca, was the exact way that Micah was.

Cody fought the battle inside his head before texting his boyfriend back.

 _[Cody, December 25th, 5:07pm]: On my way._

It was all he could do.

* * *

"Hey Micah," Taylor said entering his bedroom where the boy had been playing video games all day.

"Hey," Micah said quickly looking to his sister from the tv screen. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." Taylor said.

"It's okay." Micah said. "It wasn't fair to you, not having Moms the way Dani and I did. I would've been mad too."

"I still took cheap shots at you," Taylor said looking down at the ground looking like a younger, blonde version of Chloe and when Micah looked over from his game, he couldn't handle it.

He paused his game and got up from his gaming chair and went to his sister and wrapped her in a huge bear hug, "It's _okay._ " He said. "Don't worry about it."

Taylor sank into her brother's embrace and then said, "I was a douche to you."

"I forgave you." Micah said. "I do have a question though."

"Hmm?"

"If this was bothering you even before you left, why did you come back when they found Dani and for Moms' renewal ceremony?" He asked.

"Family is family forever." Taylor said. "Just because I was mad does _not_ mean I won't be here for family."

* * *

"Oh the hardworking boy is home!" Beca said thirty minutes later, making Micah scramble to his feet and run to the door.

He tackled Cody in a huge hug and gave him a small kiss before murmuring, "I missed you."

"I missed you too baby." Cody said softly.

"Not sure who's worse, these two or Beca and Chloe when Beca gets home from a week in New York," Aubrey said watching the interaction between the two boys making Beca discreetly give her the finger.

"Alright guys, give them some space." Chloe said to her wife and best friend. "You two come into the family room when you're done, okay?"

"Okay," Cody and Micah said softly.

The two of them were left alone and Micah said, "Mama said you might not come back. Why?"

"I didn't want to intrude." Cody said as Micah ran fingers through his hair.

"Baby," Micah said softly.

"I know, I _know._ " Cody said. "I just - my dad committed suicide on Christmas Day 12 years ago and I haven't had a family since."

"It's okay love." He said and held his boyfriend for a few minutes. "Well, we better get in there," Micah said. "We've been waiting for you for presents."

Cody sighed, "I'd say you didn't have to do that, but I don't want to be chastised by the moms." Making Micah smile.

* * *

Presents were opened. Dinner was eaten and Cody found himself alone in the family room with Beca and Chloe who were cuddled into each other whispering to each other and oblivious to the boy in the room.

Finally, Cody cleared his throat, making Chloe's face, that was buried in Beca's neck, pop up, "Oh hi honey, I didn't know you were in here. Sorry."

"It's okay." Cody said. "Really, it's fine."

"C'mere," Beca said making space between them, so that they could hold the boy.

He got up and made his way between them and curled into Beca as Chloe sandwiched him between them. The three sat in silence for a few minutes before Cody said, "I'm not sure why you two care so much, but thank you. For being like my parents even when I don't understand why."

"You're welcome." The couple said.

"May I ask why?" Cody asked.

"Why what honey?" Chloe asked.

"Why'd you take me in? Not that I'm complaining, but it has to add to the stress of the household." He said.

"You weren't safe honey," Beca said softly. "We wanted you safe."

"How can you be so tough to the world, but so soft for your family?" Cody asked softly.

"I've been hurt a lot," Beca said. "And this one," she said squeezing Chloe's arm, "gets me to be the softest human being in the world."

"We love you honey." Chloe said. "So much. You make our baby boy really happy."

"And if I hurt him, Beca will make my death look like an accident?" He questioned thinking Chloe knew that she had that talk with him. Until-

"Oww." Beca said.

"I told you that Parker was the only one that I would _allow_ you to have that conversation with." Chloe said.

"I just wanted to protect my babies," Beca said.

"Cody is one of our babies now," Chloe said.

"That's not weird or anything," Cody mumbled. "I'm dating your _son_."

"Yeah, you're still one of our babies," Beca said. "You treat him right. You two look at each other the same way Parker and Taylor look at each other."

"So the same way you two look at each other." Cody said.

"I guess." Chloe said smiling over his head at her wife.

The three sat there and cuddle for awhile before Micah came in and squeezed his way between Cody and Beca.

Cody finally felt safe.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** Yeah, this was less chaotic in my head.

And school is kicking my ass.

Hard.


	18. Picking Up The Pieces

**A/n:** Here we go, another chapter.

Thanks for the support!

* * *

 **Chapter Eighteen: Picking Up The Pieces**

There's always a text that a mother doesn't want to receive from one of her children on a Monday afternoon. Especially if your wife is one of those kinds of people who don't get angry often.

 _[Micah, January 12th, 4:55pm]: Just a heads up, Mom had a really bad day and she might not be putting up with anyone's shenanigans tonight._

Beca's eyes went wide. Sure, Chloe's had bad days before, it normally meant that when Beca got home, she'd wrap her arms around her waist kiss her neck and Chloe would relax, but this time Micah was warning her, so it meant that Chloe had a _really_ bad day.

 _[Beca, January 12th, 4:56pm]: Thanks for the heads up baby. How bad was it exactly?_

Beca sat in her office overlooking downtown Los Angeles waiting for her son to respond. The music producer had been out of the house since 6 o'clock that morning and hadn't had much time to talk with Chloe.

 _[Micah, January 12th, 4:58pm]: Well, we just passed by her office and we heard three sets of parents essentially saying that she isn't good at her job and that she doesn't deserve it. We saw her face in the window and I know what she looks like holding back tears. So really bad._

 _[Micah, January 12th, 4:58pm]: Oh and Principal Brown just_ _intervened. So it's not good._

The music producer was about to respond when she heard a knock on the door, "Come in." She called out.

"Hey Beca," her assistant Sarah said, "Dani just got here."

"Cool." Beca said with a smile, "Send her in."

She then sent a text back to her son:

 _[Beca, January 12th, 5:00pm]: Tell her I'll bring home Chinese food for dinner. You two just keep her calm and don't do anything stupid. Let her know that I have everything handled._

"Hi Mama," Dani said coming in her soccer practice uniform. "Sorry I'm later than normal. Practice went late."

Dani was definitely a changed person when she came back from the treatment center. There was a long way to go to get her back to being somewhat normal again, but she was smiling again. Playing soccer, eating whatever was on her plate, most of the time going back for seconds, and messing around with Micah again. It may not be their same girl, but they were liking what they were seeing.

"It's fine princess," Beca said. "It looks like Mom had a really bad day today. I was thinking Chinese for dinner?"

"Yum." Dani said. The after a second, "Is Mom okay?"

"She's just having a not so good day." Beca said. "Maybe you can cuddle with her after dinner?"

"Of course," Dani said. "That's been our thing since I've gotten home, cuddling after dinner."

"Cool," Beca said coming towards the girl. "How was your day, princess?" She asked placing a kiss on her forehead.

"It was alright, just another day at Eastwind Prep. Aunt Bree surprised me by coming and having lunch with me." Dani said.

Beca smiled, "That's cool." She said. "I'm going to finish up here, can you call in the order for the Chinese food?"

"Of course," Dani said. "Our usual?"

"Yup," Beca said. "I'll be done in five minutes, so we can go. I need to talk to Aunt Emily real quick."

"Okay," Dani said taking her phone out of her backpack as Beca walked out of the room.

Beca walked out of the room and knocked on the door of Emily's office and heard a muffled, "come in" before she opened the door. She opened the door to see Aubrey sitting on the couch with a somewhat distraught Emily in her arms.

"What's going on?" Beca asked softly closing the door behind her.

The innocent question made Emily break down into more tears, Beca rose her eyebrows, looking at Aubrey with a ton of questions. "She mistakenly asked Parker how Benji was doing." Aubrey answered.

"And?" Beca said not understanding how Emily could be upset over that.

"He's happily engaged." Aubrey practically whispered.

Beca sighed and sat on the coffee table in front of the couch, "Hey Legacy," she said softly. "You wanna talk about it?"

Emily shook her head, "Not really." She said softly. "You have a family to get to."

Beca bit her lip, she did, and she wasn't going to deny it, especially with Chloe's bad day, but Emily was more than her business partner. She was her best friend and sister. She knew her duty as a mother and a wife had been coming before that recently, but she wanted to be there for her.

"I got her, Bec." Aubrey said. "Get home to that family of yours. The boy texted me and asked how do you calm down and emotionally angry Chloe, so I'd get home to that. I got Em."

"You sure?" Beca asked.

"Positive." Aubrey said. "Give Chloe my love though, okay?"

"Definitely. Lemme know if you need me, okay?" Beca said standing up. "I just came in to say that I'm leaving."

She then felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket:

 _[Micah, January 12th, 5:06pm]: Why didn't you warn me that when Mom is angry she's actually really freaking scary?_

Beca's eyes widened, "What's wrong?" Aubrey asked seeing her face.

"I really gotta go and pick up dinner." Beca said. "I think angry Chloe is scaring the boys."

"Oooh," Aubrey said. "Yeah, you go do that. I'm probably going to take this one back to my place. Y'know, make sure she eats and doesn't get too drunk."

"Thank you," Beca said before going out to get Dani to go home.

* * *

"How can't I be good at my job?" Chloe seethed in the kitchen practically venting to Micah. Cody slipped out to the pool house, not wanting to deal with angry Chloe. "Am I bad at my job?"

"Of course not, Mom." Micah said getting up to wrap her in his arms. He needed her to calm down. "You're really good at your job."

Chloe tried to move to get out of his arms, but he tightened them, not wanting to let her go. She finally sunk into his embrace, calming down knowing that her son just wanted to take care of her.

Beca and Dani walked in a minute later and the music producer smiled at the sight, "We're home." She said softly.

Chloe turned out of Micah's embrace and said, "Hi babies."

"We brought Chinese," Dani said.

"I'll go get Cody." Micah said.

"Yeah, I'm gonna shower, so start dinner without me, I promise it'll be quick." Dani said.

Beca and Chloe found themselves alone in the kitchen. The music producer immediately took the vice principal in her arms. "Hey beautiful," Beca said before kissing her softly.

"Hi love." Chloe said kissing her again.

"Micah texted me and said you had a bad day." Beca said. "Let's get dinner in you then you and I can take a relaxing bath and finish that bottle of wine we opened last night, okay?"

"You know how to spoil a woman." Chloe said with a soft smile before kissing her again. "I love you."

"I love you too." Beca said.

* * *

Chloe relaxed into Beca's arms and moaned softly as Beca began rubbing the knots out of her shoulders. "Tell me about your day." Beca whispered soothingly.

"I had to suspend three students today and all of parents thought I didn't deserve having this job." Chloe said. "Michele had to come in and intervene."

It's not that Beca like watching her wife in distress, but she liked the moments where she got to take care of her. The moments where the usually happy, go-lucky, life is fantastic Chloe was finally venting out some of the emotion she had in her.

"What'd they do?" Beca asked softly.

"Three of them cornered the other one outside of his class and pretty much jumped him." Chloe said. There was silence for a moment, Beca was on a mission to get the knots out of her wife's shoulders and then she heard a voice come out of her wife that she hadn't heard in a very long time, it was broken, sad, and it broke Beca's heart. "What if I'm not cut out for this?"

"You are, Chlo." Beca said. "You're making a difference in the students' lives."

Chloe scoffed, "If you say so." She said.

"Hey," Beca said firmly, keeping her voice soft, "you _are_ making a difference. Look at Micah, Cody, hell, even _Bailee_. You are making a difference. Are you really going to let these parents get to you?"

"I don't know," Chloe let out a sob. "I don't-"

Beca shifted her wife to be able to hold her better, dropping kisses to her forehead, it wasn't often that Chloe got like this, but when she did, Beca was there to pick up the pieces of her wife's broken heart.

Chloe cried into Beca's chest for a long while. The music producer didn't say anything as her wife cried in her arms. This is how Beca put her wife back together again after a long, hard day at work.

* * *

Chloe's Tuesday started off great, it helped that Beca had the day off and surprised her with an early morning love-making session and then got up and made breakfast for the family before taking Dani to school. Micah and Cody even made the commute to school a little easier by filling it with spontaneous singing and laughter for the 45 minute commute into campus.

It wasn't until lunch time when her phone rang from her mother that her day took a drastic turn.

"Hi Mom." She said getting up to look out at the freshmen quad, "What's up?"

 _"Hi honey," her mother Vanessa's voice sounded soft. "Do you have a minute?"_

"Yeah, of course." Chloe said softly. "What's going on?"

 _"David hasn't told you?" Vanessa asked._

Chloe wasn't necessarily close to her parents, it wasn't because she didn't want to be, they just grew apart during the redhead's high school and college years. Chloe and her brother David were a lot closer, but the man was in Washington DC all the way across the country, so they didn't get to see each other a lot.

"No?" She said remembering talking to him a few days prior.

 _"It's about Daddy." The older woman almost sobbed._

"What about Daddy?" Chloe asked.

 _"He's sick." Vanessa said._

Chloe's hand flew to her mouth. "H-how sick?" She managed to ask.

 _"Really sick." Vanessa said. "Stage four."_

"C-cancer?" Chloe asked.

 _"Lung cancer." The mother got out._

Tears developed in her eyes as she went numb, "How long does he have?" Chloe asked.

 _"Anywhere from six months to a year." Her mother got out._

"Oh my god." Chloe breathed out.

It's not entirely how she intended to spent her lunch break, but it was the longest conversation she had with her mother since before leaving for Barden that wasn't an argument.

And even if the circumstances weren't the greatest, Chloe knew that it was what she needed to do.

* * *

Chloe didn't tell her family about her father's illness and her conversation with her mother - not even Beca - which turned out to be more of a problem than a solution.

Another problem is that Micah and Cody got the brunt of Chloe's anger. Well, mainly Micah, Cody put headphones on and sat in the backseat and tried to ignore it.

Beca didn't know that the boys were receiving a lot of Chloe's anger until Friday night, she heard Micah trying to muffle his crying.

"Bubba?" Beca said softly, knocking on his door.

"Come in Mama," he said wiping tears away.

"Hey, what's wrong, my boy?" Beca said coming to where he was on his bed to cuddle with him.

He continued to wipe tears as he said, "It's stupid."

"I highly doubt it," Beca said as he placed his head on her chest. "What's going on bubba?"

"Mom is just having a bad week and I'm getting the brunt of it is all." He said softly.

Beca's eyes widened a little, "What does that mean?" She asked softly.

"She got mad at me for essentially breathing on the way home from school today." Micah said. "Cody's smart, he's been listening to music with his headphones on the commute to and from school lately. I don't have that luxury because I'm driving."

"She got mad at you for breathing?" Beca asked softly drawing patterns on her son's back to get him to relax.

"I was trying to leave her be, y'know, like you suggested, but it's _hard_ when she yells at me for not talking. She normally understands that I have a million things going through my head at once and am quiet because I need to process it."

"What's going through your head baby?" Beca asked softly.

"I'm nervous about the fall," Micah said. "I finally found home and I feel like two years isn't enough, y'know? I mean I'll have Taylor and Parker and Aunt Stacie near by, but I won't have time to see them. And I'll have Cody, but it's not the same as you and Mom."

"You can always forego the scholarship and figure out what you want to do." Beca said.

"Mom wouldn't be happy about that." Micah mumbled. "Something about how most South Los Angeles students barely graduate and then don't go to college."

"You're not barely graduating, honey." Beca said softly. "You're at the top of your class and I'm not saying don't go to college. I'm just saying if you need more time here with us, then take your time. And if you're worried about Mom, I'll talk to her, okay?" She said kissing the top of his head. "It sounds like I do need to talk to her about her taking her bad week out on you," she added.

"Thanks Mama," he said softly.

"Anything for one of my babies." Beca said softly.

* * *

"Chloe, may we talk?" Beca asked.

"About what?" Chloe said looking at her laptop.

"About you taking your frustrations of your shitty week out on Micah." Beca said, taking off the watch she was wearing and plugging in her phone.

Chloe sighed, she knew she was doing it, but she didn't think Micah was affected by it. She shut the laptop and put it on the nightstand.

"Is he okay?" She asked softly.

"After I cuddled with him for about an hour." Beca said. "He's got a lot going through that head of his and the last thing he needs is to think that you don't want him breathing around you anymore."

"He does?" Chloe asked.

Beca sighed and slid into bed pulling her wife into her. "Yes." Beca said. She then took a small deep breath, "It's more than what's going on at school, honey, what's going on?"

Chloe sat in silence for a long time, Beca knew that this meant that she was trying to figure out how to say this.

"My mom called me on Tuesday and we talked for a long time." Chloe said.

Beca continued began drawing patterns on her wife's arm, "Mmmhm?"

"My dad's sick - like really sick. Like stage four lung cancer sick." Chloe said.

"What?" Beca asked softly.

"My daddy is- my daddy is really sick." She got out.

"Oh baby." Beca said cradling her wife in her arms. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know," Chloe cried harder.

"Oh, my love." Beca kissed her wife's face all over.

"They're all the way across the country and I can't be there with them." Chloe cried.

"Then get on a plane and go out." Beca said softly. "Call Michele in the morning, take time off, and fly to Ohio and be with them."

"My brother is with them, it'd be cool to be a family again." Chloe said calming down. "I don't want to leave you as a single parent though."

Beca was playing with red hair and said, "It's only temporary. And our kids aren't babies, I think I can handle two teenage boys who barely talk and a teenage girl that's been coding some app for the past month." She kissed her head, "All I have to do is feed them and make sure they get off to school on time. I can take Dani to school on my way to work and the boys can drive themselves."

"Okay," Chloe said softly. "I need to go apologize to Micah," she added getting up only to be pulled back down by Beca.

"Do it tomorrow," Beca said. "He's got a lot on his mind tonight."

"Do you know what about?" Chloe asked.

"He feels like he hasn't had enough time here." Beca said. "He doesn't know if West Point is his dream anymore."

"He can always start off in community college, to see what he wants to do." Chloe said. "And stay here."

"I told him something like that," Beca said. "He's just worried about your reaction."

"I kinda never liked the idea of one of the kids in the military, but I never said anything because I didn't want to suppress his dreams." Chloe admitted.

Beca kissed her head, "You're a good mom, Chlo." She said.

"I love you." Chloe whispered.

"I love you too," Beca whispered back.

* * *

Chloe knocked on Micah's door frame the next morning. Micah turned around from what he was doing at his computer and pulled his headphones off, "Hi Mom." He said softly.

"Hi baby." Chloe said softly. "May I come in?"

"Yeah, of course." He said moving from his desk to the bed. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for taking my anger out on your this week." Chloe said. "I know you've got a lot on your mind right now."

"May I ask why?" Micah asked softly. "Why did you do it?"

Chloe took a deep breath, they hadn't told the girls yet, but Micah deserved an answer. "Pop pop is dying." Chloe said softly. "And I was mad that I couldn't be there to help and I took that out on you, I'm sorry."

Micah wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulders. "Cancer?" Was all Micah could asked.

Chloe nodded, "Lung cancer." She said.

"What stage?" Micah asked.

"Stage four." She answered.

She felt Micah's arm tighten around her shoulders and put her head on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Mom." He said.

With her head on his shoulder, she felt like they were okay again. She knew if they weren't he wouldn't be essentially holding her. "So Mama told me that you're having second thoughts about West Point?" She said after awhile of silence.

"Yeah," he said. "I finally found home and I feel like I won't be able to survive without you and Mama. No paperwork has been officially signed. I just don't know if that's my dream anymore."

"What would you want to do if you don't go to West Point?" Chloe asked.

"I think I wanna do what Mama does." He answered truthfully.

"Produce music?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah." He said. "Everything is still rolling around my head though."

"We'll be here to help." Chloe said.

"Thanks," Micah answered and kissed his mother's head.

* * *

Several days later, Chloe was standing right outside the security checkpoint saying goodbye to Beca. She had already said goodbye to the kids before they went off to school, but saying goodbye to Beca was hard. It always was.

"You'll be back in a week," Beca assured as she held her wife, brushing red hair out of her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Right." Chloe said.

"And there's phone calls, video calls, and texting." Beca said.

"Right. Right." Chloe said.

"The four of you get to be a family again," Beca reminded. "Your parents want this."

It was their thing, especially when Beca would go out of town, they reminded the one leaving how long they'll be gone, that they could still talk, and why the person that's leaving is doing so.

"I love you, beautiful." Beca said kissing Chloe softly. "Now go or you'll miss your flight."

"I love you too." Chloe said kissing Beca one more time before picking up her carry on bag and going through security checkpoint.

Beca waited until her wife was all the way through and Chloe looked back with a small smile and waved.

As Beca was getting ready to walk back to her car she got a text message:

 _[Chloe, January 21st, 8:34am]: Thanks for being such an understanding wife. I love you to the moon and back. x x_

Beca smiled before typing out a reply:

 _[Beca, January 21st, 8:35am]: I love you to the moon and back and so much more. x x x_

Beca knew that her love for Chloe would always be strong. She knew that she'd always be there to pick up the pieces of the redhead's over-giving heart. She knew that she'd always be there to pick up the pieces of a broken Chloe Mitchell-Beale. She knew that no matter what happened in life, they would be okay.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** So I have plans for the next couple of chapters for everybody in the Mitchell-Beale household. Stay tuned.

Also, now that most of my midterms are over, the projects are really kicking in. So I can't promise fast updates, but I promise that updates will come.

I have a huge weight on my shoulders to do well this semester - like 3.5 well when I'm usually a 2.9 kind of student. So, just a heads up.


	19. Big Decisions & Little Things

**A/N:** It's gonna be a bumpy ride, sit back, relax, and let me take you on a journey. :)

* * *

 **Chapter Nineteen: Big Decisions & Little Things**

Beca can agree to the fact that she doesn't envy single parents for the world. She thought it would be easy, get the kids up, feed them, get them to school, come home, feed them again, make sure they have their homework done, and are in bed at a decent hour. Seems reasonable since they have three of the most laid back kids on the planet still living in the Mitchell-Beale home.

Then she realized how much slack Chloe picked up, how lazy of a parent she was.

 _"You're not a lazy parent Bec," Chloe said over FaceTime one night._

"Chlo, I almost forgot to sign something Eastwind related, don't get me started about South Los Angeles baseball, and I'm not even sure how I'm actually a mother." Beca said pacing her at home studio.

 _"Baby, you're a wonderful mother. I just picked up the administration responsibilities as a parent because I was the teacher and am the vice principal." Chloe said softly. "You're doing great."_

"I miss you." Beca said suddenly.

 _"I miss you too baby." Chloe said._

"I conned our daughter into sleeping with me so the bed doesn't feel so big." Beca said.

 _"Oh baby," Chloe said. "I'll be home soon enough."_

"How is everything?" Beca asked softly.

 _Chloe's face deflated, "He's really sick, Bec. Seeing him makes it really hard." She said._

"I'm sure it is." Beca said. "Is there anything I can do?"

 _"Not really, just make sure those three kids are safe and healthy." Chloe said._

"Done." Beca said. "How's it being a family of four again?"

 _"It's weird. David is trying to play the mediator between me and my mom." She said running a hand through her hair._

"I'm sorry," Beca said softly.

 _There was a knock on Chloe's end, "Hold on," she said softly. "Come in."_

 _"Hi Chlo," David's voice said._

 _"Oh hi David, come say hi to Beca." She said._

"Hey Senator Beale," Beca said acknowledging his chosen profession.

 _"Hey Bec." David said getting settled on Chloe's childhood bed._

"How are you?" Beca asked.

 _"I'm as okay as I can be right now." David said. "How are you?"_

"I'm missing your baby sister right now, but other than that, I'm alright." Beca answered as the front door she was near opened and slammed shut, she looked up to see a frustrated Cody and a version of her son that she'd never seen before.

"We made plans, Micah." Cody said frustratedly.

"Cody, just hear me out," Micah said.

"And what? Pretend that we didn't make plans? Pretend that we weren't going to serve this country together?" Cody said back.

Beca cleared her throat and when the boys looked over, she waved, "Hi babies." Beca said softly.

 _"Yeah, hi loves," Chloe said through the phone._

"Shit," Cody muttered under his breath before continue to walk into the kitchen and out to the pool house.

"Hi Moms," Micah said softly going over to sit next to Beca.

 _"Hey kiddo," David said announcing his presence._

"Oh, hi Uncle David." Micah said.

Beca rose her eyebrow at the boy, "What's going on with that?" She asked.

Micah sighed, "I'm dealing with it." He said.

 _"What's going on bubba?" Chloe asked._

"He's mad because I'm thinking about not going to West Point." Micah said. "He wants me to be there with him."

 _"You haven't made your decision yet?" Chloe asked softly._

"It's leaning towards not going." Micah said scratching the back of his neck.

"If you want to produce music," Beca said, "you could come work for me while you go to school."

 _"Yeah," Chloe said, "to get a feel if that's something you really wanna do."_

"You two are really okay with this?" He asked his moms, aware of his uncle's presence.

"As long as you're following dreams, Mom and I will be on board." Beca said.

 _"Yeah, baby." Chloe said. "Cody is mad now, but he'll eventually understand."_

"Thanks Mom," he said scooting close to Beca to put his head on her shoulder. "How's Ohio?"

* * *

Dani was in her room when she heard a knock, she looked over her shoulder to see her mama saying, "We're having Aunt Bree and Aunt Em over for dinner." Beca said.

"Because you can't cook very well?" Dani playfully shot back.

"Hey, I can barbecue a mean steak." Beca said, "But, yes, that is why they're coming over. How's the app coming along?"

Dani rubbed her face, "Good I guess, it's taking a lot longer than I thought. Can't wait to launch it."

Beca came over to rub her daughter's shoulders, "When do you think that will be?" The mother asked.

"We're hoping first day of senior year, but we'll see." Dani said.

"Do you like doing this? Coding?" Beca asked.

"I do, I love it, but it sometimes makes me wonder why." Dani said.

"How are you doing otherwise?" The music producer asked. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm eating small increments of food every couple of hours. It's still hard, but I'm fine. Therapy is helping." The girl answered.

"Good, good." Beca said.

"I learned my lesson, Mama. I push myself to come see you, I meant what I said, I want to get better." The girl said. "I know I'll never be the same again, but I want to be better. So I strive for that every day."

Beca kissed her head, "I love you princess." She said.

"I love you too." Dani said. "Do you still want me to sleep with you tonight?"

"Yes," Beca said immediately. "That bed feels so big without your mom."

"Cool because I want mama cuddles." Dani said making Beca smile.

"Good because tomorrow is Saturday and we can snuggle for the majority of the day." Beca said.

"Looking forward to it." Dani said. "Though, after my game."

"Yes, which I'll be going to." Beca said. "I think I talked Micah into going with me."

"Are he and Cody okay? I heard arguing." Dani said.

Beca sighed, "Not at the moment, but they will be. They're disagreeing on Micah's decision on not going to West Point." She said.

"I can't imagine Micah at West Point." Dani said honestly. "He seems more like a Bruin to me."

"A Bruin?" Beca asked.

"Yeah, the UCLA mascot." Dani said.

"Oh, _oh._ " Beca realized. "Duh."

Dani chuckled, "Yeah. Well, I better get back to this," she said gesturing the the MacBook and iMac in front of her where she was coding.

"Of course, I'll let you be and come up when Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily are done with dinner." Beca said.

"Sounds good." Dani said receiving another kiss to her head.

* * *

"So how's Chloe doing?" Aubrey asked while chopping up vegetables.

"You can tell she's trying to be positive, but I know my wife, she's hanging in there." Beca answered reading an email on her phone.

"She always had a big heart," Aubrey said. "Which honestly surprised me that she fell in love with you."

"Believe me, it surprised me when she told me that she fell in love with me too." Beca said.

"They're like parents to you," Emily said, "ever since your parents disowned you they became Mom and Dad. How are you doing?"

"I wish I could be there for my wife," Beca said. "Knowing that she lies in bed every night just wanting to be held and I can't do anything about it just about kills me. But, other than that, I guess after the shock wore off, I'm okay."

"How are Taylor and Dani? I know Micah didn't have much of a relationship with him." Aubrey asked.

"That's their Pop pop, they're confused, but I think they're okay. Dani says she is." Beca said. "I haven't talked to Taylor much. She is putting a lot of pressure on herself because he academic advisor said she can get her undergrad done in three years and start premed faster."

"Oh that girl," Aubrey said. "She's tough."

"Yeah," Beca said as Micah walked in the room, "Hey bub. Where's Cody?"

"At work," Micah said grabbing a water bottle out of the refrigerator and attempted to take one of the chopped vegetables off the cutting board.

Aubrey smacked his hand away, "You're worse than your mama." She said. "Go sit over there." She gestured with the knife.

Micah looked over at Beca and the mother said, "Yeah, I tried doing that earlier and I've been practically banned to this side of the counter."

"Oh," Micah said then kissing Aubrey's cheek hello and then went over to do the same to Emily.

"So, you're rethinking West Point?" Emily asked.

Micah nodded, "Yeah, I'm not sure if it's what I want to do." He said.

"What do you want to do?" Aubrey asked. "If not serve our country."

"Produce music." He said making Emily's head shoot up from the glass of wine.

"Really?" Emily asked.

"I've already offered him a job," Beca said.

"Good." Emily said. "We need somebody with his ear. He saved us on Brandon Leaf's debut album."

Micah blushed. He had been in the office waiting for Beca to finish because they were going to go to a Dodger game and Emily called him in to get a fan's perspective on what they were hearing and he said that the track needed violins and when they added that to the track, it sounded just what it was missing.

"Glad I could help," he said.

"How's school going?" Aubrey asked.

"It's going okay. It's senior year." Micah said placing his head on Beca's shoulder while the mother wrapped a rather protective arm around her son.

"Exhausting?" Aubrey said knowing the look on his face.

"Yeah," he said while Beca's hand started rubbing his arm comfortingly.

"Did your mama convince you to snuggle with her since your mom's away?" Emily asked.

"She tried, Dani was more successful though." Micah said.

"You won't cuddle with your mama?" Aubrey asked.

"I feel trapped in a way when someone tries to cuddle with me while I'm sleeping." Micah admitted.

"Oh," Aubrey said. "Never mind then."

"How are you doing Aunt Emily?" Micah then asked. "Parker told me about his dad."

Emily's face fell and Aubrey looked at the younger girl, "Okay, I guess," the younger music producer answered. "I guess we all move on, right?"

Aubrey put the knife down and reached over to place a comforting hand on the woman's wrist. "Hey, we talked about this." The lawyer said softly. "You deserve better."

"Yeah," Emily said. "Right."

"She's right," Beca said still holding Micah. "He's definitely not the Benji that we went to school with anymore."

"He's not the man I fell in love with," Emily said. "Don't ever be like this." She then turned to Micah, who with being in Beca's arms, was half asleep.

"Don't plan on it," he mumbled earning a kiss on the forehead from his mama.

"When's dinner? I'm starved." Dani said not knowing what she was walking into.

"In about five minutes monkey." Aubrey said as she received a kiss on the cheek from her youngest goddaughter.

"Cool," Dani said going over to greet Emily. "Hi Aunt Em." She said kissing the woman's cheek.

"Hi honey. How are you?" Emily asked wrapping an arm around the girl.

"I'm alright. Hungry and seeing that Aunt Bree is cooking, it should be good." Dani said.

Aubrey smiled, "Glad to see you have an appetite again monkey." She said.

"Yeah, I outeat this one sometimes," she said to a now asleep Micah in Beca's arms. "How does he sleep like that?"

"I don't know." Beca said before nudging the boy awake, "Bubba."

"Hm, what?" He said shooting up.

"How'd you fall asleep so fast?" Emily asked.

He shrugged, "When I'm in Mama's arms, I'm in my safe place. And I apparently fall asleep." He said.

Beca kissed his forehead, "Senior year is really taking its toll on you." She said.

"Yeah," he mumbled placing his head on her shoulder.

"And arguing with Cody probably doesn't help," Dani said.

"I'm aware." Micah said, burying his face in Beca's neck.

"Well, let's get food in you, okay?" Aubrey said. "Dinner is ready."

* * *

In Ohio, Chloe and David were sitting on the back patio both sipping glasses of white wine.

"It's weird to be back here," Chloe said.

"It's been a long time, Chlo." David said. "Why has it been so long?"

Chloe took a deep breath, "While they're supportive of my life with Beca and our children, you know Mom and Dad weren't necessarily supportive of me being gay at first." She said.

"Yeah, that is right." David said. "Is that why when you went to Barden, you never really looked back?"

"Partly," Chloe said taking a sip of wine. "They support me now - I've given them three amazing grandchildren with help from you with Dani, so two of them have Beale blood in them, but it's still hard, you know?"

"You and Dad were close growing up," David said. "Is it hard for you to not be as close anymore?"

Chloe shrugged, "I don't think it matters anymore." She said.

"Of course it matters." David said.

"They both still can't look at me straight in the eye anymore, not since I told them I was gay junior year of high school. They didn't care that I failed Russian Lit three years in college. Sure, they're a hell of a lot better than Beca's parents who won't even talk to her, but I feel like more times than not that a lot of the issues that Mom and I have, stem for the fact that I gave her another daughter and not another son."

"You know Mom loves Beca like she was her daughter." David said.

"She does," Chloe said thinking about the relationship that her wife and mother share together. "But, I can't help, but think that maybe if I would've given her another son that we wouldn't argue like we do."

"But, you'd be unhappy, Chlo." David said. "And all Mom and Dad want is for you to be happy." Chloe rolled her eyes. "I'm serious. Do you think they were happy when I went off and enlisted in the Army right out of high school?" Chloe looked up from the glass she was staring into, "Because they weren't. They were so glad when my enlistment was up and I was going to school studying public policy."

"But, you made them proud." Chloe said. "You should've seen them. They were excited and then when you came back after your enlistment and enrolled into Ohio State, they were always proud of you."

"They were proud of you too," he said. "Even if it did take you seven years to get through Barden." He grabbed his sister's hand, "They were even more proud when you said that Beca proposed to you. They may not show it, but they do love how happy Beca makes you."

"Thanks big brother." Chloe said feeling a little better.

* * *

When Cody got home a little after midnight, everyone was passed out in the family room with the television on. Beca had both Micah and Dani curled into her sides with arms around them and Aubrey had her head on the back of the couch with Emily's legs in her lap with her head on the pillow at the end of the love seat. Cody saw what they were watching, it was on some late night talk show. His eyes then landed on his boyfriend's sleeping figure. He saw how safe he looked whilst in Beca's arms and he knew he shouldn't be mad, but while he had the Mitchell-Beale's, he didn't have a family like this. He didn't understand what Micah meant when he said that being in Beca or Chloe's arms meant he felt safe.

In some ways he feels like he doesn't deserve Micah, but the other boy always said with his actions that he does. He shuts off the television and pulls the blankets off the back of the couch covered Beca, Micah, and Dani first and then went to cover Aubrey and Emily with the other one, the lawyer waking up upon feeling the blanket on her.

"Oh hi, Cody." She said sleepily.

"Hi," he said.

"How long have you been home?" Aubrey asked.

"Just a few minutes." He said.

"Are you hungry?" She asked.

"No, I'm good." He lied not wanting to make the woman get up and prepare a plate for him.

"You okay?" The lawyer asked.

"Yeah, fine." He answered.

"You know, your boyfriend has been beating himself up all evening." She said.

"Why?" He asked looking over at the boy who was curled into his mama.

"Because he doesn't like upsetting the people that he loves." Aubrey said.

"I'm not upset." Cody said.

"That's not what Micah _and_ Beca said. In fact, Micah is afraid that you're going to break up with him if he doesn't go with you to West Point." Aubrey said, shifting Emily's legs out of her lap to stand up. She met the boy eye-to-eye and he actually thought she might hurt him - for hurting her nephew. "I'm not gonna hurt you." She said seeing the look on his face. "I do know you a little better than you think I do and I know you're hungry. So come on."

Aubrey led the boy to the kitchen and prepared him a plate, he sat at the counter and smiled at the woman working around the kitchen on his behalf. He decided to change the subject and said, "So, uh, have you ever been married?"

Aubrey was mixing some salad onto the plate and chuckled, "No," she answered knowing what he was doing. "My job takes up a lot of time."

"You seem to make a lot of time for the Mitchell-Beale's and the Junk's - specifically Emily." He said.

"They're the only family I have right now." Aubrey said. "I've known Beca and Chloe for a long time, Emily too."

"Yeah, something or another about the Barden Bellas?" Cody asked making Aubrey give him a look, "What? Micah said something about it when I asked how you all knew each other."

"Yeah, a National Championship collegiate a capella group." Aubrey said.

"Wait, that's _actually_ a thing?" Cody asked.

"Yeah," Aubrey said. "It's the reason why college was some of the best years of my life. I'd go back to those days if I could."

Aubrey handed the boy a plate before he asked, "Do you ever want kids of your own?"

The lawyer nodded, "I do. Someday." She said. "Why?"

"Just curious." He said before eating.

* * *

Dani was cuddled into Beca in bed the next afternoon after her soccer game, she was playing with the string on Beca's sweatshirt when she brought up a topic that she hadn't been willing to bring up before.

"If I were to of kept the baby and not put it up for adoption, would you and Mom supported me through that?" Dani asked.

Beca jumped back, shocked of the question, "Of course princess." She said immediately. "What gave you the impression otherwise?"

"We haven't really talked about." Dani said.

"We don't want to trigger you," the mother said.

Dani was silent for a moment before she said, "I wanted to keep it."

Beca kissed her daughter's head and asked, "So, why didn't you?"

"I was afraid that you and Mom would kick me out or something for being pregnant at 14." Dani said. "I could hear your voice telling me that I had my whole life in front of me and that I shouldn't waste it."

"We would've supported you," Beca said. "Helped you raise it - especially after what happened to you."

Dani cuddled into her more, "I'm not sure I'd be a good parent." She said. "I don't have a high tolerance level."

"You know I thought the same thing when your mom was pregnant with your sister." Beca said.

"Really?" Dani asked, never hearing this story.

 _Chloe had a long day and Beca saw it when she walked in._

 _The redhead, six months pregnant with their firstborn child, sat down on the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table._

 _"Hi beautiful," Beca said. "Long day?" The redhead nodded, "Okay, well I have pizza on the way. How are you feeling?"_

 _"My ankles are sore and baby girl keeps kicking, but fine other than that." Chloe answered softly._

 _"I can give you a foot rub if you want?" Beca suggested._

 _"Maybe after dinner?" Chloe said. "Come cuddle with me though."_

 _"Okay." Beca said._

 _The brunette sat down and wrapped Chloe in her arms - the redhead had notice that her wife had been quiet a lot recently, so she decided to bring it up._

 _"Are you okay?" Chloe asked after a few minutes._

 _"Of course," Beca answered. "Why wouldn't I be?"  
_

 _"You've been so quiet lately." Chloe said._

 _"I guess I'm a little nervous." Beca said. "About becoming a mom."_

 _"You'll be a good mom," Chloe said. "You already love her so much."_

 _"I didn't have the greatest example of parents growing up and now my parents won't even take my phone calls. What if I'm not as good as you think I'm going to be?" Beca got out in pretty much one breath._

 _"You're not your parents, Bec." Chloe said. "We'll learn how to be parents... together."_

 _"Okay," Beca said._

"Honestly," Beca said after finishing her story, "I was scared shitless."

"Mom always grounds you," Dani said.

"She does." Beca said. "I can't stand being away from her. That's why I rarely take business trips or I do it when we can take a family vacation because times like these make me wonder if I'm a good mom."

"You are." Dani said. "So you forgot to sign my thing until the last minute. So you forgot to sign Micah's baseball release form for baseball. You still managed to get us up, make us breakfast, and make sure we got to school on time. You still cut your hours short at the studio, so we can have take-out dinner or steak as a family. So you can't sleep in the bed alone. You're still honestly the best mom ever."

Beca kissed the girl's forehead, "Thanks princess." She said. "So take-out for dinner tonight?"

"Yes." Dani agreed immediately.

* * *

Micah was sitting in his room working on homework when Cody came in and knocked on the door frame.

The Asian boy turned around to be met with the blue eyes of his love and said, "Hi love."

"Hey honey." Cody said. "May we talk?"

"Of course." Micah said as Cody went to sit down on his bed. "What's up?"

"As much as I want to share the West Point experience with you, I understand wanting more time with your moms. It wasn't fair for me to shove our plans in your face." Cody began. "I just hate long distance relationships."

"I do too, but I'm in love with you." Micah said. "I don't want to lose you."

"You aren't going to," Cody said. "So we spent some time apart. You want to mix and produce music?"

"It started out as a hobby then I saw my mama and Aunt Emily talk about it and how they fell in love with it, I guess I did too." The boy answered.

"So you do that, we'll work everything we need to out." Cody said. "Maybe it's good that we won't go to the same school. We seem to get distracted and make out all the time instead of doing our project."

Micah blushed, "Yeah," he said. "This way our time together will be special too."

"So, what's the plan?" Cody asked as Micah climbed onto the bed to hold his boyfriend.

"You go to West Point and I'll start out at Los Angeles City College and work at Legacy Records. You serve our country and I'll work here in LA. When you're time to the country is done, we'll figure it out. Take one step at a time."

Cody placed his head on Micah's chest, "And god forbid, we don't work out?" He asked.

"I'll always be in your life some way Adams, you can't get rid of me or my family." Micah answered.

"I'm sorry for being so selfish." Cody said. "I didn't realize how much you needed your moms."

"It's kinda sad how much I still need them." Micah said.

"You'll always need them in some capacity." Cody said. "It's not a bad thing."

Micah placed a soft kiss on his boyfriend's forehead, "I'm gonna miss you." He said.

"I'll miss you too." Cody said. "We still have awhile."

"We do." Micah said. "Wanna nap?"

"God, yes." Cody said as he closed his eyes and the two fell asleep.

* * *

Chloe walked into her father's den where he was reading the newspaper, "Hi Daddy." She said as she put her head on his shoulder.

"Hi sweetie." He said kissing her head. "Wish you didn't have to go."

"I know, but anymore time away I think Beca and the kids might have an issue." She said.

"I understand." Michael said. "You all should come out for the kids' spring break, even Cody."

"We'll talk about it." Chloe said. "I still have until tomorrow here though."

"I know, your mom has a surprise for you." Michael said.

"What kind of surprise?" Chloe said.

"You'll just have to wait and see." He said.

Chloe pouted, "No hint?" She said.

"Now I know why Beca falls for that," Michael said, "but you're right. No hint."

"Honey?" Vanessa called out, "I'm home with Chloe's surprise."

"What is it?" Chloe called out still curled into her father.

Just then Taylor poked her head in and said, "Surprise."

"What?" Chloe said surprised. "Oh my god, baby girl!"

The mother got up and all, but ran to Taylor, who was embracing herself to be tackled, "Hi Mom." The girl said as Chloe placed numerous kisses on her cheek.

"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked.

"I couldn't resist knowing that you were somewhat close and not seeing you." Taylor said. "And I wanted to see Pop pop, so he and Nana flew me out for a couple of days."

"I'm totally going to rub this in your mama's face." She said. "Go say hi to your pop pop while I FaceTime Mama."

"Okay," Taylor said kissing Chloe's cheek before going to her grandfather.

Chloe pulled out her phone and FaceTimed Beca, _"Hi beautiful." She said once it connected._

"Guess what?" Chloe said excitedly.

 _"What?" Beca said going through stuff on her desk._

"Guess," Chloe said.

 _"You're coming home earlier because you miss us that much?" Beca said, placing reading glasses on her face as she went through paperwork._

"Nope, even better." She said gesturing for their oldest daughter to come to her.

 _"What?" Beca said signing her name to something._

"Hi Mama," Taylor said coming into the frame.

 _"What?" Beca said, snapping her head from paperwork to her laptop screen. "No way."_

"My parents flew her in for a couple of days." Chloe said.

 _"Yeah, I'm jealous." Beca said. "I miss you both."_

"Miss you too, Mama." Taylor said.

 _"Aunt Emily and I will have to get you and Parker on a train when I go to New York in a couple of weeks." Beca said._

Chloe stuck her tongue out to her wife, "It's just me here right now." Taylor said. "Parker is actually in LA for the weekend."

 _"Oh yeah, getting fitted for his tux for Benji's wedding." Beca said. "Aunt Bree has been with Aunt Emily all weekend."_

"Are you in the office on a Sunday?" Chloe asked with a raised eyebrow.

 _"Yeah," Beca said. "I get more work accomplished here than I do at home. And if we want to expand to New York a lot of work still needs to be done."_

"And the kids still at home?" Chloe asked.

 _"Micah is working with his group project group near campus, Dani is hanging with Isaiah playing video games, and Cody's at work." Beca said._

"Okay well, as long as they're still alive." Chloe said.

 _"Don't do that, I already feel like a crappy parent as it is." She said._

"You aren't though." Taylor said.

 _"Thanks baby girl, but the lack of parenting I do when your mom is here says differently." The brunette said._

"You were always the cool parent," Taylor said. "No offense Mom."

"None taken," the redhead said. "It's true."

 _"Thanks guys, but do you know I've had Aubrey and Emily come over to cook us dinner because all I know how to do is barbecue?"_

"I still think you're the best mama in the world." Taylor said.

 _"Thanks baby girl."_

The three of them talked for awhile before Beca got back to work and Chloe held held Taylor a little closer for the rest of the day. If the redhead has learned anything from what's happening to her dad, it's to take joy in the little things.

And with Taylor cuddled in her arms, this was the best thing that could happen to her in that moment.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** Don't know what to say, but yup. I tried to be lowkey on the angst, but it's a-coming.


	20. Beautiful Second Chances

**A/n:** Thank you all for your support!

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty: Beautiful Second Chances**

Beca waited a little impatiently at LAX for Chloe to get in from her flight.

 _[Chloe, February 2nd, 11:42am]: Just landed. Taxiing to the gate. See you soon, my love!_

Beca smiled like an idiot in the middle of a somewhat crowded terminal. Twenty minutes to Beca Mitchell-Beale felt like forever, but when she saw her beautiful bride come down the escalator with her messenger bag over her shoulder and carrying her duffle bag, she couldn't wait to be reunited with her love.

Beca always thought that Chloe was beautiful, but when the woman came down wearing a South Los Angeles High School Baseball sweatshirt, that Micah had gotten her for his first Christmas before he was adopted saying at the time _'you're kinda like my mom now, right?'_ , a pair of faded jeans, and the Converse shoes that the redhead always seemed to wear whilst not at work, Beca couldn't help, but find her wife the most beautiful woman in the world - more so than usual.

Chloe looked lovingly at her bride, she could tell that the music producer was containing her excitement and not running up to her and giving her a big hug and kiss because her badass wife didn't want to seem needy.

"Hi baby," Chloe said as reached Beca.

Beca pulled her in for a kiss and lifted her up in the process. Chloe wrapped her legs around her wife's waist as they reunited for the first time in a week.

Beca pulled back, "Hi beautiful, I missed you so, _so_ much." She said putting her wife back down on her feet.

"I missed you." Chloe said.

Beca pushed red hair out of her wife's face, "I missed you too." She said.

"Can we just go home and cuddle until the kids get home?" Chloe asked. "I missed being held by you."

"Of course, my beautiful, beautiful love." Beca whispered. "Welcome home."

* * *

Chloe didn't leave Beca's arms for the rest of the afternoon. Beca wanted to have an afternoon alone with Chloe without any disruptions. They watched tv, Beca played with the redhead's hair, they even had a couple of make out sessions, just enjoying each other's presence.

When Micah and Dani came tumbling into the house after their respective sport practices, they found the couple cuddled on the couch watching tv.

"Mom!" Both the kids called.

"Hi babies." Chloe said standing up to greet her children.

Dani hugged her first and said, "I missed you."

"I missed you too, angel." Chloe said. "Wanna cuddle after dinner tonight?"

Dani gave a dopy grin that was evident she picked up from Beca, "Of course." She said.

Chloe then turned to Micah and hugged him and noticed how tense he was, "You alright baby boy?" She asked.

"Yeah, just senior year kicking my ass. Hard." He said. "It's weird not having you on campus."

"I'll be back at it tomorrow." Chloe said. "Where's Cody?"

"Work," Micah said. "He picked up more hours."

"Why?" Chloe asked.

"You didn't tell her, did you?" Micah said to Beca.

"Having your mother content in my arms all afternoon without any drama was my intention." Beca said. "But, uh, we got a check from Cody the other day."

"What kind of check?" Chloe asked raising an eyebrow. "You gave it back to him, right?"

"He was pretty insistent." Beca said scratching the back of her neck. "I couldn't just hand it back."

"We aren't accepting rent from a 17 year old." Chloe said. "He's like our son."

"He doesn't want to be thought as that," Micah said. "As endearing as it is, he doesn't want to be thought of as your son."

"Why not?" Chloe asked.

"It's just weird to him," Micah said. "With me being his boyfriend, it's just weird to him. And he won't admit it, but he's insecure having you and Mama taking care of him."

Chloe had a look in her eye that reminded Beca of three year, overly stressed, challenging the first year she met Aubrey version of the redhead that she didn't want to see.

"Chlo-" Beca tried before being interrupted.

"Who's hungry?" Chloe asked. Both teenagers raised their hands. "Good, go shower, and we'll be on our way."

"Where are we going?" Dani asked.

"Reagan's Diner." Chloe said.

Everyone's eyes went wide, Dani's because she hadn't been there since the night she went into the hospital and Beca and Micah's because did they really have to deal with Cody's insecurities now?

"Okay," they all said not questioning Chloe because the redhead had her mindset and there was no getting her out of it.

* * *

The four Mitchell-Beale's walked into Reagan's Diner and were greeted by what would end up to be a surprised Cody.

He was looking at the screen in front of him when they reached the hostess table, "Welcome to Reagan's Diner, how man-" He looked up and stopped abruptly. "H-hi."

"Four please," Chloe said with a soft smile.

"Of course." He said. "Right this way." He led them to the usual booth that he and Micah sat at when the boy comes to see him at work. "I'll be right with you to get your drink order."

Cody walked away and Beca put her arm around Chloe and asked, "What are we doing here?"

"What do you think?" Chloe asked raising an eyebrow.

"I mean, I am getting off in about an hour." Cody said. "I was going to be home right after that."

"And what?" Chloe asked. "Hid in the pool house?"

"Is this about the check?" Cody asked, suddenly grateful that the Mitchell-Beale family were the only customers in the diner. "Because I explained the reasonings."

"Cody," Beca said softly, "you know why I didn't want to accept it. I understand why, but this one here," she gestured to Chloe, "thinks of you as her own. No matter how weird you think that is. So do I."

"I'm not your kid," Cody said. "I'm your son's boyfriend. I know that having me there, even without Taylor, it's still a financial burden. Hence, why you received a five hundred, fifty dollar check. Hence why I picked up more hours."

"Cody," Chloe said, "what's this really about?"

Micah looked at his boyfriend knowing what it was really about. The blonde hair, blue eyed boy didn't get to be adopted like he was able to. Every time Cody looked at Micah with Beca and Chloe, he felt a jealousy that he would never describe.

"Nothing," the boy snapped. "I'll be back with your drink orders."

He walked away and Micah took a deep breath before saying, "He's jealous."

"What?" Beca and Chloe asked.

"I got adopted into this amazing family that will love and support me regardless what I want to do in life and he only gets to live it in some kind of vicarious way. So, he's jealous. And mad."

"So let's adopt him," Chloe said making Micah make a face. "What?"

"Please don't adopt my boyfriend, that means I'll be dating my brother and that's not what I want." Micah said.

"I agree," Beca said. "Maybe we can see if Aubrey would."

"What?" Everyone at the table asked.

"It just makes sense and the boy has already been hanging out with her anyway." Beca said.

"When has Cody ever hung out with Aubrey when we aren't?" Chloe asked.

"Late at night when the two of them think it's just the two of them." Beca said.

"Do you think she would even want to?" Micah asked.

"We can ask and then bring it up to him," Beca said with a shrug.

Micah nodded and then Chloe looked across from her at her youngest daughter, who was fidgeting in her seat, "Angel, are you okay?"

Dani's head snapped up from the menu, "Hm? Oh yeah, it's just this is the first time I've been in here since-"

Chloe grabbed her daughter's hand gently across the table, "Oh baby." The redhead said. "Of course, I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's fine. _I'm_ fine." She said. "It's just weird."

"Okay," Chloe said softly. "Cuddle when we get home?"

Dani flashed a weak smile that reminded the redhead of the woman sitting next to her, "Of course." She answered.

* * *

"So, what's this about?" Aubrey asked the next day in Beca's office. "It's rare that I have lunch with two of my favorite Bellas."

"I'm right here too, you know." Emily said looking at an email on her phone.

"Yeah, but we weren't Bellas together." Aubrey said.

"Kay," Emily said stuffing salad in her mouth.

"So, we wanted to talk to you about something." Chloe said.

"What's that?" Aubrey said.

"You know how you've always said you wanted kids?" Chloe started off.

"Yeah?" Aubrey said.

"What if we gave you an opportunity to have one?" Chloe asked.

"I don't have time." Aubrey said. "Work is about to get really busy."

"What if we give you a 17 year old that is really angry about not getting adopted?" Beca asked.

"Cody," Aubrey said knowingly.

"Yeah," Beca and Chloe said.

"Why?" Aubrey asked. "Is he not happy at your place?"

"He gave us a rent check," Chloe said still not believing it. "And Micah said that he was jealous and mad because he sees how he is with us and realizes that no matter what he does, how much he tries to convince himself, he'll never have what Micah has."

"We want to give him everything in the world that we can," Beca said, tears developing in her eyes. "And you can say no, but we just wanted to ask."

Aubrey looked between the married couple, who had hopeful looks on their faces, and then to Emily, the woman she had essentially been taking care of over the last several months, the younger music producer nodding her head as in a way of saying, "Do it."

Aubrey swallowed, she loved that boy, more than she could ever describe, she loved that boy, and then she said, "How does he feel about this?"

"We haven't told him yet," Beca said. "We didn't want to get his hopes up if you said no."

"I don't know how to be a parent, especially to a teenage boy that is in the backend of his senior year." Aubrey said.

"The same way you are with Micah," Emily said surprising the trio. "You're good with him. What Cody needs is to know that he can come back home to a mother who will love him the way you're beginning to. I say it's worth a shot."

"What do you say, Bree?" Beca asked.

"Uh yeah, sure." Aubrey said. "I'd love to."

"Are you sure?" Beca asked.

"Yes," Aubrey said. "I mean, the boy just needs a lot of love, right?" Beca and Chloe nodded. "Well, I have a lot of love to give."

* * *

When Cody made his way in past midnight, Beca and Chloe were waiting for him.

"Another late night?" Beca asked.

"Yeah," Cody said. "I sent Micah a text to tell you."

"What's going on?" Chloe asked.

"I'm going to go into this pool house and crash to get up in a few hours to start tomorrow." Cody said.

"Why are you working so much?" Chloe asked. "Why are you giving us a rent check?"

"Look, no matter how many times you say it, I'm not your kid." He said. "It would be weird if I was."

"What if we said we could get you adopted and you wouldn't have to work as much?" Beca asked.

Cody chuckled, "If you can make that happen, you'd be a miracle worker." He said opening the door to the pool house.

Before he closed the door behind them, Beca said, "Aubrey Posen wants to adopt you."

Cody turned around and said, "What?"

"Aubrey Posen or the kids call her Aunt Bree, she wants to adopt you." Beca said.

"Why?" Cody asked.

"Because you could deserve a little more love in your life," Chloe said.

"So, Aubrey is the way to go?" Cody shot back.

"Hey," Beca said, "we know you're mad and jealous that you didn't get adopted and this is us trying to help fix that."

"How do you know-" Cody started confused. "Micah."

"He was helping us understand why you gave us a pretty large check," Beca said, defending their son.

"We even offered to adopt you ourselves," Chloe said.

"But, then Micah made a good point about how weird that would be." Beca added. "So we asked Aubrey and she said yes."

"She's always wanted to be a parent," Chloe said. "And you've always wanted a parent, so it's a win-win."

"So I'd be dating my cousin?" Cody shot back.

"Well if you put it that way, Taylor is too." Chloe said. "Parker calls us Aunt Beca and Aunt Chloe. - even though he's been dating our daughter since the eighth grade."

"We don't expect you to call us Aunt Chloe and Aunt Beca." Beca said. "We just want you to be happy."

"I want that too," Cody said with tears developing in his eyes.

* * *

A few days later on a Saturday, Beca found herself spooning Chloe from behind as the lied in bed.

Chloe turned in Beca's embrace and the brunette gave the redhead a soft smile. "Good morning beautiful," the music producer said.

"Good morning baby," Chloe said leaning in for their morning kiss. "Sleep well?"

Beca hummed in approval, "I always do when I have you in my arms." She said.

"Sappy." Chloe said before kissing her wife again.

Beca pulled her wife on top of her and continued kissing her as Chloe was smiling into their kiss.

Chloe pulled back and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too," Beca said.

* * *

That night, after work, Cody was nervous as he stood outside Aubrey's apartment door, he was spending a couple of days with her alone to see if it would even work out between them and he was nervous. When he knocked on the door, it was hesitant.

Aubrey opened the door with a soft smile, "Hey sweetheart, come in."

"Sorry I'm late, I got a little lost." He said.

"Don't worry about it," Aubrey said. "I'll show you your room." They walked into the spare room of Aubrey's apartment and she said, "I didn't decorate it because I didn't know how you'd want it, but I got you a bed and a desk."

"Thank you." He said.

"You're welcome," Aubrey said. "I hope this works out."

"You and me both." Cody said.

"Have you eaten?" Aubrey asked.

"No, I figured we could eat together." Cody said.

Aubrey's face lit up, "Okay, I could order Chinese and we can sit on the couch and watch tv or something?" She asked.

"There's a Red Sox games on tonight." Cody said. "I mean it's Spring Training, but baseball is baseball in my opinion."

"You're a Red Sox fan?" Aubrey asked.

"Yeah, both my dads were." He said scratching the back of his neck. "I'm not much of a baseball fan, but Micah has been getting me into it lately."

"I'm a Yankees fan," Aubrey said with a raised eyebrow. "Born and raised in NYC."

Cody smiled, "Yeah, even if this doesn't work out, can we always watch Red Sox vs. Yankees game together?" He asked.

"Of course." Aubrey said. "But, I have a feeling that this is going to work out."

"Glad to know we're on the same page." Cody said.

* * *

Micah was sitting on the couch, half asleep watching Spring Training baseball when Beca and Chloe walked into the room from the kitchen.

"Hey bubba." Chloe said as she fell down next to him.

"Hm?" He came out of his daze. "Hi Mom. Mama."

Beca sat on the other side of him and said, "You're half asleep at 7:30 on a Saturday night?"

"Mmhm." Micah said. "Senior year is kicking my ass."

Beca pulled her son into her and started running fingers through his hair, "Do you want to wait until after graduation to start working at Legacy Records?" She asked.

"I think that'd be wise. I can help out here and there, but between everything going on at school and baseball, I feel like I can barely keep myself together." He said as Chloe moved his legs into her lap and start massaging his calves.

Micah moved his head to Beca's lap as she continued playing with his hair. They sat in silence for a while, "Have you heard from Cody?" Chloe asked softly.

"He texted me when he got to Aunt Bree's letting me know he got there safe," Micah murmured. "I'm giving him his space with her to see if it works out. I kinda hope it does."

"Yeah?" Beca asked.

"Yeah, that way we can properly pick each other up for dates and for prom." He said. "And he gets a parent."

"Wish we could've given him two." Chloe said.

"He just wants someone who he can call 'mom' or 'dad.' He just wants a parental figure to curl into during bad days. Not that you two weren't good enough, but he never thought of you two as moms because of me, so he just needed at least one of his own. I think he and Aunt Bree will be good for each other. Maybe she'll learn how to stop working so much."

"God, I hope so." Beca said.

"So, you're okay with it?" Chloe asked Micah.

"Of course," Micah said as Dani came stumbling into the room.

"Hi princess." Beca said. "Wanna join the family snuggle session?" She nodded her head as Micah sat up and Chloe made room for the girl to be sandwiched between her and Micah.

Once she settled in and got comfortable, Dani looked at the tv, "Why are we watching Spring Training?" She asked.

"Because my boyfriend is a Red Sox fan," Micah mumbled.

"You know, Aunt Bree is a Yankees fan, right?" Dani said.

Micah chuckled, "That should be an interesting household." He said.

* * *

A few hours later, Cody was half asleep on the couch next to Aubrey who was also half asleep.

"If this works out," Cody said randomly, "you're okay with me going to West Point, right?"

"I'm not going to stop you from-" She tried before being interrupted.

"Aubrey, seriously, be honest with me." He said.

"I'll worry, but I'll worry even if it doesn't work out." She said pulling him into her side, "Do you want this to work out?"

Cody buried his face into her chest before saying, "I want to be able to say that I'm going home to my mom." He said. "So yeah, I do. Do you want this to work out?"

Aubrey kissed the top of his head and said, "I want to be able to say that I have my son waiting for me at home. Even if it's until July."

"I know we don't know each other that well, but maybe this will be good." Cody said.

"Yeah," Aubrey smiled. "Tell me something about yourself."

"I want to be President of the United States one day." He said.

"Really?" Aubrey said.

He nodded, "Yeah. It's always been a dream." He said.

"And attending West Point?" She asked.

He shrugged, "I want to serve this country and I want to be a West Point Cadet." He said. "How proud will you be to be a mom to a West Point graduate?"

"So proud." She said pulling him closer.

"Tell me something about you." He said softly.

"What do you want to know?" She asked.

"Why'd you want to become a lawyer?" He asked.

"I was in a really bad relationship that didn't get the justice it deserved and I wanted to be the change. It's why I'm a family lawyer." She said.

"Are you the Mitchell-Beale's family lawyer?" He asked.

She nodded, "I helped Micah get adopted." She said.

"Yeah?" Cody said thinking about his boyfriend.

"Mmhm." She said. "Helped with the whole Dani ordeal too."

"You mean a lot to that family," Cody said.

"I do," she said. "And so do you."

Cody smiled, "I really want you to be my mom, Aubrey." He said.

"I really want to be your mom, Cody." She responded. "I know it's been a short time, but I really have fallen in love with you as if I did give birth to you."

Cody smiled. Sure, this wasn't what he had in mind when he dreamed of being adopted, but this was the next best thing that could ever happen to him.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** I know that seems as if that came out of the blue, but I'm actually wrapping this story up within the next three chapters with ideas in mind for a sequel that set 10 years into the future. So yeah. Just hang in there with me, okay?

Until next time...


	21. Changes For The Better

**A/N:** So yeah. Here we go.

It's a little Aubrey/Cody centered, but I hope you still stick around.

Also, sorry for the wait, went back home for the Thanksgiving holiday for the first time since the big move and it was swamped with friends, family, people I haven't seen since middle school... yeah and before that school was (still is) kicking my ass.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty-One: Changes For The Better**

 _[Aubrey, March 15th, 5:54pm]: I filed for your adoption today. We should hear back within the next couple of days about your adoption hearing. Wanna celebrate it when you come over tonight? I'll pick up dinner from that Thai place we both like._

Cody was sitting in Micah's arms when he read the text, his eyes widened. He had been spending weekends with Aubrey for the better part of a month. They've been getting to know each other. He knew this moment would come, it just came to him as a little bit of a surprise.

"You okay?" Micah asked groggily.

"Aubrey filed for my adoption." Cody said.

"Wow, really?" Micah asked, a little more alert.

"Yeah," Cody said. "It's official."

"Please tell me underneath your skepticism, you're excited. This is something you've always wanted." Micah said, kissing his head.

"Oh I am," Cody said. "I just am afraid that I'm going to fuck it all up somehow."

"You won't." Micah said.

"How do you know?" Cody asked.

"I felt the same way when my moms were about to adopt me, but they reassure me all the time that it's not the case." Micah said. "Text Aubrey back and tonight start talking moving plans. I want to properly pick you up for a date before senior year ends."

"You're okay with this?" Cody asked.

"Yeah, it's what you want and besides we got ourselves the gay version of what Taylor and Parker have going on and I kinda like that. Those two have been my relationship goals since the moment I stepped into this house as a foster kid." Micah said.

"You're so weird." Cody said before typing out a response to his future mother.

 _[Cody, March 15th, 5:58pm]: I can't wait to be a Posen! :) And yes, can't wait!_

* * *

Beca was working on paperwork in the office when Parker came running into her office. He was in town for Benji's wedding and he actually was worried about his mother.

"Hey Parker." Beca said softly. "What's up buddy?"

"Where's my mom?" He asked.

"In a session with Brandon Leaf." She said. "Why?"

"She hasn't been returning my calls, I just want to make sure she's okay."

"She's been taking it hard," Beca said taking her reading glasses off. "But, she's okay other than that. Are you okay?"

Parker was shaking, "No. No, I'm not."

Beca got up and moved to the couch and gestured for the boy to take a seat, "What's wrong honey?" She asked softly.

"My dad's getting married to someone who isn't my mother." Parker said. "And why this surprises me, I don't know, but I just sat through an entire rehearsal dinner realizing that not only am I becoming someone's half brother when Liza gives birth, but I'm becoming someone's stepson, and three someone's stepbrother, and I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about that and god damn it, I want my mommy."

"Okay, okay. I'll get her." Beca said. "I need you to calm down, alright?"

Parker steadies his breathing before Beca calls Emily's assistant to send her into her office.

Five minutes of Parker trying to even out his breathing happens before Emily walks through Beca's office door.

"Baby?" Emily says to Parker, "What's wrong?" Parker all, but threw himself to his mother. "Oh honey, I got you. I got you." Emily held him for a few minutes as Beca backed away, once he calmed down, the younger music producer asked again, "What's wrong baby?"

"It should've been you, it should've been us." He said.

"What should've been? Your dad?" He nodded. "Things don't happen like that baby," Emily said.

"He's hurt me too," Parker said. "Watching him with Liza. It hurts."

"Baby," Emily said.

"Just hold me please." Parker said.

"Okay, okay. I got you." She said pressing a kiss to his head.

Emily held the boy close and made eye contact with Beca who provided her a soft smile, "You're a good mom." The older music producer mouthed.

"Thanks," Emily mouthed back.

Emily held the boy close and rocked him back and forth. He had been so strong for her sake, holding back information about Benji because he didn't want her to be jealous, but while he was doing that, he was pushing his feelings and emotions aside. Now those emotions needed tending to, but this time Emily needed to put whatever she was feeling aside for the sake of her son.

* * *

Beca got home to Chloe in the kitchen making herself tea, the music producer came behind the vice principal and kissed up her neck, "Hi." She murmured. "Sorry I missed dinner."

"It's okay, we ordered pizza, it's in the refrigerator." Chloe said turning into her wife's arms. "Hi." she then whispered before kissing Beca's lips. "I missed you today."

"I missed you too." Beca said resting her forehead on Chloe's. "Where is everybody?"

"Dani is in her room, Micah is out with some friends, and Cody is with Aubrey for the weekend." Chloe said. "Bree filed for his adoption today. I think they are talking about redesigning his room this weekend."

Beca's face lit up, "So cool." She said.

"Yeah," Chloe said. "I was thinking maybe we could spend the night cuddling and stuff."

"Of course my love." Beca said kissing her again.

Beca led them to the couch and turned on the tv and pulled her wife close whispering how much she loved her in her ear before the settled in for the night.

* * *

"So we could paint the walls if you want," Aubrey said.

"I like them white," Cody said. "Maybe we can get some posters and stuff and put them on the walls."

"I like the sound of that," she said. "I'll get you a laptop and a computer. You a Mac or a PC user?"

"Micah had a Mac and iMac. It's the only thing I really know how to use." Cody said scratching his neck. "We have them at school too, some big shot company took pity on us and donated some."

"Cool," Aubrey said. "We can go out tomorrow and get it. Do you like where the desk and bed are?"

"I do." He said. "I like that if I'm lying in bed or sitting at my desk I can see the city."

"I do like this view," Aubrey said.

"Did you get the parking situation figured out?" He asked.

"Yup, you can have the parking space next to mine starting tomorrow." She said.

"Okay sounds good." Cody said.

"May I ask one more thing?" Aubrey asked.

"Sure," Cody said unpacking some of his clothes.

"Will you allow me to take full financial responsibility of you?" She asked.

"Are you asking me to quit my job?" Cody asked.

"Yes, I want to be able to take care of you in every aspect, I know you're used to taking care of yourself, but hear me out-" She tried.

"Okay, I'll do it." Cody said.

"What?" Aubrey asked, confused.

"I mean, I have enough saved away anyway. Beca and Chloe transferred the money I gave them back and I didn't usually spend money on myself." He said. "And you're gonna be my mom, so I'll put in my two weeks notice with Chris tomorrow."

Aubrey made her way to him and gathered him in her arms, "That's all I've wanted to hear." She said leaving a lingering kiss to his forehead.

 _Yeah, she could get used to this mothering thing._

* * *

Chloe was cuddled into Beca when Micah came in. He came in a fell on the ground, dramatically in front of the couch making the moms chuckle.

"What's wrong, bubba?" Chloe asked.

"My group project group is going to kill me," he said into the carpet.

"I thought you were out with friends," the redhead said getting up to rub his back. A ritual which she started when he came home from the group project tenser than they'd like to see him.

"No, we had to plan that thing or something or another." He said relaxing as Chloe's thumbs preformed magic on his back. "I dunno, wasn't paying much attention." Chloe applied a little more pressure to his shoulder blade. "I know Ma, I know, I just can't handle their bull shit anymore. I just want to graduate."

"You know I'm in charge of whether or not you do?" Chloe said. "And hearing that-"

"Can't I tell you things as my mom and not my vice principal?" He whined, getting up. "I just want to forget about all of it for awhile. Forget about graduation, forget about how I'll never amount to anything good in life-"

"Not true," Beca said from her place on the couch. "You know that's not true."

Micah stared directly into Chloe's eyes, "You're my vice principal, I get it, but right now, I need my mom _not_ my vice principal."

"Okay," Chloe said. "I get it."

Chloe walked forward and embraced him in her arms, "I love you bubba." She whispered.

"I love you too," he mumbled in her arms.

* * *

Aubrey and Cody were cuddling on the couch like they normally do after dinner when he sprung up a conversation, "So I've been told that your birthday is coming up."

Aubrey let out a low chuckle, "Who told you?" She asked.

Her birthday wasn't a big to her, but being friends with Chloe was making it hard to avoid her birthday.

"Beca said something and then Chloe confirmed it." Cody said. "Do you have anything in particular that you want?"

"To be your mom," she said softly.

Cody pulled away from her embrace and asked, "Why?" Making Aubrey confused, he quickly clarified, "I know _why_ , but why do you want that as a birthday gift?"

"You're the only man that has made me ever consider the future." She said now making him confused. "Not in a romantic way, weirdo. Just that now I have someone relying on me, I've never really had that before."

"You haven't dated since-"

"Not since that bad relationship, no. It kind of tainted my whole view of dating." She said honestly. "You made me realize that I could love someone whether it be in a romantic way or in a motherly way. I've always wanted kids, I didn't think I could do that without a partner, sure this is extremely unconventional, but all I want for my birthday is to be your mom."

He cuddled into her, "Well then, let's make it happen." He answered. "Maybe we can share the day, so that it's not all on you and that way, my adoption birthday can also be _your_ birthday. And every year, when we celebrate your birth, we also celebrate my adoption."

Aubrey smiled and kissed his head, "That sounds perfect baby." She said.

* * *

It took a few weeks, but Cody made Aubrey's birthday wish come true, on Aubrey's birthday, he became a Posen.

The two stood in a courtroom, one that Cody would find out later was the same one Micah's adoption was finalized in a little under a year and a half before. Aubrey stood in front of the same judge that finalized her goddaughters' brother's adoption. The Mitchell-Beale family of four and Emily sat in the back of the room - Taylor and Parker couldn't make it out on such short notice, but were going to be celebrating it when they came home after the semester along with Micah and Cody's graduation ceremony.

Aubrey has never felt more happy in her entire life, she stood with Cody's arm lazily thrown around her shoulders - both with big smiles on their faces - waiting for the judge to finalize the paperwork for Cody Adams to become Cody Posen.

"I have seen my fair share of adoption cases," the judge began. "Many that Ms. Aubrey Posen has helped finalize herself, but for some reason this name pops out at me more. I knew both of your fathers very well," he said to Cody, "and I was in a lot of grief when I heard about both their passings and I only hoped that their pride and joy - their only child - would eventually find home. I'm sorry it took you this long, but I'm pleased to find that you've found home. Congratulations Cody Adams Posen - you've got one hell of a mom now."

The gavel came down and that's when the tears in Cody's eyes fell down his face, he looked down where Aubrey was and her face held the same.

"Happy birthday, Mom." He said softly making her eyes light up with the smile on her face.

"Happy _adoption_ day, Cody Posen." She said with a bigger smile on the boy's face.

Beca and Chloe were the first to come and hug Aubrey and Cody followed by Emily and Dani. Micah took his time and when his eyes finally met his boyfriend's they shared their first really public kiss in front of their families. Micah rested his forehead on Cody's and whispered, "You're no longer a wanderer. You've found home. I love you, Cody _Posen._ "

Cody smiled and whispered back, "I love you too, Micah _Mitchell-Beale_."

* * *

It took them awhile to finally get out of the courthouse, but when they did and were on their way back to the Mitchell-Beale house to celebrate, Dani decided to make a joke, "Y'know with you taking Adams as your middle name now, you know what you're initials are, right?"

"C A P." Cody said looking at his boyfriend's younger sister not quite understanding where she was taking this.

"Yeah, like cap." Dani said. "That's what I'm calling you from now on, you okay with that?"

"Sure," Cody said. "You're sister is weird," he said to his boyfriend as she walked away.

"I'm just glad to have somewhat of a version on the Dani I first met back." He said. "You gonna ride solo with your mom? I can take your truck back to our place."

Cody looked over his shoulder and saw her talking with Emily about something, "Sure. Thanks babe."

Micah kissed his cheek, "Anytime love." He said as the newly adopted boy handed his keys over as Aubrey came behind him.

"You ready honey?" She asked.

"Mhm, I'm gonna ride with you to the Mitchell-Beale's, Micah is taking my truck over there." He said then Aubrey threw him her keys.

"Well then, drive us, _son._ " Aubrey said with a big smile as he threw his arm around her shoulders again.

* * *

The party at the Mitchell-Beale house was in full swing, it was just the Mitchell-Beale's, Emily, and the Posen's, but it was enough for Beca to awkwardly stand up halfway through dinner to make a toast.

"So, uh yeah," Beca stood their with a beer bottle and said, "we certainly have a Taylor-Parker 2.0 situation going on here. When you entered our lives the beginning of this school year, I didn't know what to expect. I knew that you've made our baby boy the happiest in the world and I'm glad to have you apart of this family." She said to Cody, who sat between Aubrey and Micah with a soft smile on his face. "We _officially_ welcome you to the family, Cody."

Cody smiled and softly said, "Thank you Beca." She nodded and sat down.

"You okay?" Chloe asked Micah who looked like he was going to fall asleep at the table.

"Hm?" He said. "Oh yeah, fine. Just tired. This one," he gestured to Cody, "had me working on corrections for our partner project late last night."

"You seem tense," Aubrey noticed from the other side of her son. "You sure you're okay?"

"Never better." He said. All of the mothers at the table stared at him, "Seriously, I'm fine, don't worry. It's just stress."

Cody massaged the back of his neck a little as conversation went to a different topic.

"So, what's it like living with Aubrey?" Beca asked.

Cody chuckled, "You should know, she was your guys' roommate while she was in law school." He said.

"That's different," Beca said. "Is she a good mom?"

Cody, who was still rubbing Micah's neck, looked over at his mom with a huge smile, "The best." He answered.

Aubrey smiled and kissed his forehead, "I'm in a better place now. A much better place." She said looking over at her son who was taking care of a knot at the base of his boyfriend's neck.

Aubrey felt happy for the first time since should could remember and she could tell that Cody was too.

* * *

It was a few months later that Micah was trying to figure out how to ask Cody to prom that he realized how much of a good thing that it would be that he would be getting ready at his new forever home that it was a good thing that his boyfriend was adopted because he spent most of his time at home trying to figure it out and plan it.

The Mitchell-Beale boy set out on a mission to ask the Posen boy out to prom. The blonde boy didn't go to his junior prom because of his work schedule and the only reason he went to homecoming that year was because Micah had asked him to. It started as a scavenger hunt type thing that would lead him to where Micah wanted him. The first card read:

 _Where is the first place that we met? Find it and your next clue to find me will be there._

The blonde boy recognized the small, chicken scratch handwriting and smiled making his way to the counseling office where they had first met. When he got there he was met with a soft smile by the receptionist who handed him his next clue that read:

 _Where's the first place that you calmed me down from a panic attack whilst on campus?_

Cody smiled, it was in the hallway that was usually deserted. He had calmed him down by bringing him into his lap and rocking him back and forth. When he went to the hallway, taped to the wall was his next clue that read:

 _She's the happiest person you know, she fed you for the better part of six months unless her wife barbecued. She's the reason why you and I have gotten this far. Yeah, I'm talking about my mother. Your next clue is in her office._

He chuckled, imagining his boyfriend having to explain to his mother whatever he was doing and seeing Chloe's bright smile complying to what her son wanted. He made it to her office to see that she was working on her laptop in front of her and he softly knocked on the door and held up the previous note.

"Here you go." Chloe said with a bright smile and a wink. "Enjoy the rest of your lunch, Mr. Posen."

He smiled and nodded taking the note out of her hand, it read:

 _Where was the first place where we made out after school on campus waiting for my mom to be done working?_

He blushed, quickly said goodbye to Chloe and then walked to Micah's locker, where the final small note was sticking out of his locker.

 _Where is your favorite place on campus?_

Cody smiled and thought about how he told the Mitchell-Beale boy that his favorite place on campus was the soccer field because it was like the football and baseball fields to Micah. He walked towards the field and saw a small group of people standing around. He looked confused until he saw his boyfriend standing with his teammates who held out a big sign that read:

 _I know the answer, but I thought I'd ask.  
I'm not much of a dancer, but it'll one of our lasts.  
Will you, Cody Adams Posen, but my date to our last South Los Angeles High dance?_

Tears developed in his eyes as he looked at his boyfriend again he was standing there in his South Los Angeles High uniform and letterman jacket with two tickets in his hands and a hopeful smile on his face. Cody nodded his head and said, "I couldn't imagine my senior prom night any other way."

Micah's smile became the biggest one he's seen in a long while. "Cool." He said, coming towards him kissing him softly.

* * *

The two boys were getting ready at their own homes. Beca was tying Micah's tie like she always did. "Are you nervous?" The music producer asked.

"A little." He said. "I just want it to be nice for Cody, y'know?"

"I get it," she said helping him into his jacket. "You're a good boyfriend, bubba."

"Thanks Mama," he said. "He should be here any minute. You, Aunt Bree, and Aunt Em are hanging out tonight?"

"Yeah, we're hanging out with Dani. I'm barbecuing and the four of us are going to play some catch up. Your sister has been a little off, your mom and I wanna make sure she's okay without pressuring her. It's been exactly a year since the whole thing."

Micah nodded his head, "I get it." He said. "It's good. She seems to be in a good place. A little quieter than usual, but that's to be expected."

"I figured some time with me and the aunts would be good." Beca said making sure her son looked presentable.

He smiled, "Cody and I are coming back here with Mom after the dance. Our friends are doing other things and we kinda just thought we could hang as a family and stuff." He said.

Beca smiled, "I like the sound of that," she said. "I love you, bubba."

"I love you too, Mama." He said kissing her forehead.

"Aubrey and Cody are here!" Chloe called from the other room.

"We'll be down in a minute," Beca called back.

"Hurry up," Chloe said. "We need to get pictures of these two."

"Yeah Mama," Dani called back. "And I'm hungry, so hurry up."

Beca fixed his tie one more tie and kissed his cheek, "Come on, before Mom and sissy have a conniption fit."

"You go first." He said. "I need a minute."

"You okay?" Beca asked.

"Yeah, really fine. Just need a minute." He said.

"Okay, babe." She kissed his cheek and left the room.

He grabbed onto his dresser and looked into the mirror and took a deep breath, "I got this." He said before walking out of his room.

* * *

Coming down the stairs he saw Cody standing their in a freshly tailored suit that Aubrey must have gotten for him because Micah hadn't seen that one before. When Cody saw his boyfriend his eyes lit up, "Hi handsome," the Posen boy said.

"Hey love," the Mitchell-Beale boy said back softly.

He saw the cameras in the side of his eye, but he was focused on his boyfriend. His heart was beating so fast, he was so in love with the boy standing in front of him that it scared him.

They share a small kiss, hyper aware of their surroundings. They exchange corsages the sat on each other's jacket collars. They posed for a few pictures with each other and with their mothers before getting into Micah's jeep and going off to dinner with their friends before going to the dance. Chloe was to follow going straight to the school to chaperone.

"I better take off," Chloe said. "The three of us should be back a little after midnight."

"Sounds good," Beca said pulling her wife in for a kiss. "Everything okay with you?" She whispered.

Chloe nodded, her dad's health was declining and there was nothing that could save his life. Beca was always afraid that Chloe would get a phone call and not tell her wife.

"He's okay as of right now," Chloe whispered. "I promise not to withhold that information from you, okay?"

Beca nodded and kissed her wife again and then the redhead said goodbye to Dani hugging her a little tighter. She knew the girl was a little quieter because of things going on in her head and she wanted the girl to know that she was loved and that she was safe. Seeing that Dani sunk into her embrace, the girl knew. Chloe placed a kiss on her head before saying goodbye to Aubrey and Emily and heading out.

Beca and Chloe didn't know what their lives held for the future. What they did know is that they had three healthy children, four if you count Bailee, who were in love with their lives and they loved each other.

And what more could they ask for?

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** Meh. This seems rushed and rough, but it's something.

Final two chapters are in the works, dunno when they'll be up yet because of school and finals and my internship and life.

Next chapter, graduation for the boys. Chapter after that will have a seven year time jump to set up the sequel.

Alright, until next time.


	22. Close The Book To Open Another

**A/n:** Second to last chapter, but don't worry! A sequel will be coming! I can't imagine not escaping from my life to write about this family.

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty-Two: Close The Book To Open Another**

Micah woke up to being poked in the side, he turned over to see Bailee standing there in her class b uniform and he jumped out of bed.

"Bee!" He said.

"Hey bear." She said as she braced herself for the tackle hug that he was going to give her.

"When did you get here?" He asked.

"Late last night." She said. "Taylor, Parker and I came in around the same time. I slept in the pool house to be kept a surprise."

"You really came out to see me graduate?" Micah asked.

"Yeah, of course." Bailee said. "Heard someone here was named valedictorian too."

"How'd you hear that? I haven't even told my moms, I had Principal Brown and Guidance Counselor Levy keep that to themselves so when my mom announces it she'll be surprised."

"I know, Cody told me." She said. "I'm proud of you bear."

"Thanks," Micah bowed his head, "I'm just sorry I'm not following in your footsteps." He said.

Bailee grabbed her brother's face, "Hey, you not going to West Point doesn't upset me. If you're afraid no one followed the Forrester family tradition, you're forgetting that it's the oldest Forrester that goes. And you're not a Forrester anymore, Mitchell-Beale. So, it's okay. Now, come on, Aubrey, Cody, Emily, and Parker are all waiting downstairs for breakfast."

The two walked downstairs to organized chaos, "Seriously Beca, you can't wait like two more minutes for bacon?" Aubrey asked, slapping her hand away.

"Yeah, whatever," Beca said seeing Micah walk in, "Bubba! Hi, good morning!"

"Coffee?" He asked.

"Over here baby," Chloe said. "Did you enjoy your surprise?"

"I did," he said handing Bailee the first cup of coffee.

"Not sure if you can ever top that," Beca said.

"You just wait," he mumbled for only he and Bailee to hear.

"So, I hear you're a Posen now," Bailee said coming alongside Cody.

"That I am," the boy said. "It was an honor calling West Point to have them change my last name from Adams to Posen." He added giving Aubrey a bright smile.

"When do you ship out to New York?" Bailee asked.

"Middle of July." He said. "Aubrey and Micah are taking me out."

"And where are you in the fall?" She asked her brother.

"Los Angeles City College while working at Legacy Records." He answered.

"You start at Legacy Records first thing Monday morning," Emily said.

"So, I've been told." Micah said looking over at Beca.

"I told him at dinner last night," Beca said to Emily.

"Good, good." Emily said. "When is the ceremony today?"

"6 o'clock." Chloe said. "The three of us need to be there by 4. Are you two going to Sober Grad?"

"At Disneyland?" Cody said.

"Hell yeah we are," Micah said.

Chloe shook her head as Dani made her way into the kitchen, "Hey," the girl said.

"Hi princess, where are you off to?" Beca asked noticing that the girl had her backpack on and was looking like she was going somewhere.

"Eastwind." She said. "Project."

"Right," Chloe said. "Be back here by 4:30 please."

"Of course, wouldn't miss a South Los Angeles High School graduation for the world." Dani said, somewhat sarcastically.

"Just because our girl's soccer team beat Eastwind for the state championship this year doesn't mean you need to be bitter, sissy." Micah called out as she walked towards the door.

"Do you have snacks?" Chloe called out.

"Yes. I packed everything earlier this morning." Dani said. "Claire's waiting, I gotta go."

"Bye," everyone called out.

Taylor then came slowly into the room first, "Morning," she mumbled.

"Morning Harvard Sophomore!" Beca said.

"Too much talking," she mumbled.

Chloe smiled, all her kids were in a good place. Nothing could get better from here.

* * *

Chloe walked up to the podium to introduce the valedictorian. She didn't know what to expect, all she was told was because her son was so close in the running for valedictorian, she wasn't allowed to see who it was. She went on with her speech to introduce the person.

"Good evening and thank you all for coming, I am pleased to introduce our valedictorian," she looked down at who it was and gasped a little. She found her son's eyes in the audience and he smiled and nodded at her. "He's a boy who when he first stepped foot onto this campus was apart of our foster program. He excelled in things like his academics, but also in athletics. He's on his way to becoming one of Legacy Records finest young music producers, he also happens to be my son. It is with great pleasure that I introduce, Micah Mitchell-Beale."

A roar that Micah wasn't expecting came from the entire football stadium, a standing ovation that he also wasn't expecting came from his graduating class, a few shoulders slaps, high fives, and fist bumps came his way as he made his way to the stage where his mother still stood, not necessarily surprised, but at the same time proud.

He gave her a hug and said, "I know you aren't surprised, but surprise." She gave him a kiss on the cheek before he took the podium and said, "Thank you Vice Principal Mitchell-Beale or I'm one of three of the luckiest people on Earth who get to call you, _Mom._ When I was approached by Principal Brown, Vice Principal Bradshaw, and Guidance Counselor Levy on my way into my last high school final and told that I crossed the last thing off of my high school bucket list, they can tell you that I didn't really believe them."

He took a deep breath, "I'm not one for speeches, but here we go." He took another deep breath, "Seniors are told to write about what they learned other than academics at South Los Angeles and if we didn't turn it in it wouldn't count towards our grade point average. And this was the only assignment that I haven't turned in because well, I didn't know what to write. In fact, I almost didn't write it."

He took a deep breath before reading it, "When I did finally sit down to write it, I had a million different ways that I could write it. On one hand, I could've told you my life after becoming a Mitchell-Beale with the moral of the story being that life has happy endings, but if I've learned anything in my lifetime, I wouldn't want to lie to you. I also don't want to be a downer on our beautiful graduation day."

He felt a tightening in his chest, "I once heard someone say that life is like a hike up a mountain. Some days, you'll be on the peak of that mountain top, with the wind blowing through your hair, and the sun shining down on your face. Life is good and life is fantastic. But, other times you'll be in the darkest part of the valley wondering if you'll ever see the sun shine again." He found Dani's eyes in the crowd of people in the audience and she smiled. The two of them had bonded over late night hot chocolate one night and talked until they fell asleep on the couch, Dani's head place on his chest, Micah's arms protective around the girl.

"And then I realized that's what I learned other than academics at South Los Angeles, but one thing in particular." He said scratching the back of his neck. "Life isn't meant to be easy. How are you supposed to learn with life being easy? I learned a lot, actually. I learned that my sisters, Taylor and Dani don't like it when I leave the cap of my toothpaste tube off in our shared bathroom. I learned that my Aunt Bree like things in order so that she has some sort of control and my Aunt Emily doesn't like her food touching one another. I learned that my boyfriend doesn't necessarily like it when I zone out while we're playing video games with my sister Taylor's fiancé, Parker. I learned that Parker actually knows how to get through particularly hard levels of Call of Duty."

He took a deep breath and then started the midpoint of his speech, "I learned that when my mama is staring at my mom when she isn't doing anything in particular just staring at her and when my mom makes eye contact with her and mumbles how much of a weirdo she is that is my mama silently telling my mom that she loves her. I learned that when my mom is up late watching late night television it's only because she needs to know that my mama got from Legacy Records to the safe harbor of the Mitchell-Beale home safe." Chloe found Beca's eyes in the audience from the stage and they smiled at each other. "I learned what love is and I learned what love is not."

"And that's what I want to talk about as we go from teenagers fresh out of high school to adults in the real world because at some point we're going to love." He said. His hands beginning to shake a little because he was going to share a story that his family only knew parts of because for awhile that's all he would give them. "In November of my junior year, I was adopted into the Mitchell-Beale family and you hear stories about being adopted and how it's every foster child's happily ever after, but while some of that is true - I have two moms and three sisters," he looked at Bailee who was wearing a soft smile, "exactly one year and one day after I was adopted into this beautiful, and crazy family, I found out that the woman who carried me in her womb for nine months and managed to raise me for about three years didn't even want me in this world."

"At first I was livid, my family and my boyfriend would probably say insufferable, but I never really explained to the the deepness of what was going on in my head." He took a deep breath and said, "There are times in life where you're going to wonder if everything is worth it and that's what I thought of during that time. I wondered if it was worth it to continue on with the agonizing pain shooting through my body and my mind. And then I looked around me at the world and had to realize that it was time to move on. So I did because everything that you think is not worth it usually is. When you come across a point in your life where you think, _you can only try so hard before you begin to question if everything is worth it._ Don't give up in those times. Usually, _those_ are the times where much product is produced. I believe in you. And if a kid that you're probably not going to see until our 20 year class reunion can believe in you, you should be able to believe in yourself too."

* * *

It was twenty minutes later when both Micah and Cody were standing five people apart waiting for their names to be called, "Micah Benjamin Mitchell-Beale." The principal called out.

"We have the same middle name?" Parker asked in the audience sitting between his mother and his fiancé.

"It was our father's name," Bailee said from the other side of Emily.

"It's my father's name too." Parker said.

"Oh," Bailee said not really knowing how to process that as they all watched Chloe embrace the boy as he walked across the stage.

A few moments later, "Cody Adams Posen." The principal called out.

"That's your boy." Beca whispered to Aubrey. "I know you wished you could've had him since the beginning, but-"

"I wouldn't have been ready." Aubrey said. "It may have been five years after James, but-"

"I get it." Beca said throwing a loose arm around her best friend's shoulders. "Really I do."

* * *

After the ceremony, as the seniors got on a bus for their sober grad, Beca wouldn't let go of Micah.

"Mama, I kinda wanna go to Disneyland, so can you let go, please?" He finally said through a chuckle.

"Fine," she said letting go as Chloe pulled him into a short, loose embrace.

"Have fun, bubba. We'll see you tomorrow for the graduation party." She said kissing his cheek.

"Wait, I thought you were chaperoning?" He asked.

"No," she said. "I want an evening in with your mama."

"Oh," he said as he looked over seeing his boyfriend and his boyfriend's mother talking with some of their mutual friends.

"Yeah, you have fun though, okay?" Chloe said. "Ride Space Mountain for us."

He gave them a dopy grin, "Of course. I love you, Moms." He said.

"We love you too bubba, now _go_." Chloe said.

He kissed them both on the cheek and then walked over to Cody and their friends as Aubrey quickly kissed his cheek and made her way over to the couple, "Your baby." She said as they watch Micah throw an arm around Cody's shoulders.

"Yeah," Chloe said as Beca wrapped an arm around her. "Your baby. How have things been going?"

"Good, we have fallen into a routine. It'll be hard not having him around come fall, but I really do love him. I understand what you were talking about when it came to loving Micah as if you've had him for 18 years." She said as they watched the two get on the bus with their friends.

Chloe smiled at her friend before her phone went off in her purse, she grabbed her phone and saw her brother calling her. He was on recess from being a senator and was back at home helping his mother take care of their father. She answered the phone thinking that he was just checking in to see how the graduation went, but what she wasn't expecting was, "Hey big brother, your nephew made valedictorian and surprised the family."

 _"Oh, that's wonderful." The man said. His voice evident that he was crying._

"What's wrong, David?" She asked softly.

 _"It's Dad." He got out._

A hand flew to Chloe's mouth, "What about Daddy?" She asked.

 _"He collapsed last night at dinner and he didn't make it through the night." He said._

Chloe's knees locked and she was about to fall over, luckily, Beca had been there to catch her. "I got you." Beca whispered and then grabbed the phone, "Hi David, it's Beca."

 _"Oh hi Bec," he said. "Um, Dad collapsed last night. We didn't call because we assumed you were all busy getting ready for the graduation and well, he didn't make it through the night."_

"Oh," Beca said keeping her emotions in check for the sake of her wife. "Okay."

The family made it back for spring break about a month before, so that they could get what would end up being the goodbyes for to the man and it was still hitting home for Beca. That man became her father in a way that her father never was.

 _"We were going to wait until tomorrow, but I couldn't wait that long. I knew Chloe would've killed me." The man said._

"No, no. I understand. Thank you." Beca said as Chloe was a deadweight against her.

 _"I'll call tomorrow to check in." He said. "You take care of my baby sister, okay?"_

"Of course," Beca said before exchanging goodbyes and putting Chloe's phone back in her purse. Embracing her tighter.

"Is everything okay?" Aubrey asked with an equally concerned Emily behind her.

"Uh, not right now." Beca said. "Can you both take the girls for the night? Michael just passed and I need to take care of my wife."

"Yeah, of course. Emily and I were just going to hang out, but we can hang out with the girls and Parker too. You take care of her."

Beca nodded and then said, "Have Parker take Chloe's car to wherever you guys end up tonight and just have Taylor bring it home in the morning."

She handed them keys and the picked her wife up bridal style to where her car was in the visitor parking lot, taking her home, to let her do whatever she was feeling.

* * *

Early the next morning, Beca lied in bed facing Chloe, as the redhead slept. The music producer ran fingers through Chloe's hair and just stared at her. She then jumped at the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing, she saw Taylor and Dani both standing there.

"We couldn't stay away." Taylor said as they walked towards the bed and Beca made room for them.

"Yeah, he was our Pop pop." Dani said. "Snuggling with Aunt Bree and Aunt Em are okay, but they are you guys."

Beca smiled and as the girls got into bed, Chloe stirred awake, "Girls?" She said groggily.

"We needed to be close to you and Mama," Taylor explained as they settled between the couple.

"He was our Pop pop," Dani said.

Chloe held Dani close to her and Beca sandwich the two sisters together, placing her hand on Chloe's hip. They snuggled as a family when Chloe's phone went off with a phone call.

"Who is calling at four in the morning?" She mumbled reaching for her phone answering it, "Hello?"

 _"Hi Mom, are you okay? Parker texted me." Micah's voice came softly through the phone._

Chloe let out a choked chuckle, "No, not at the moment, I'll be okay though." She said.

 _"Do you want me to find a way back to LA? I can come home." He offered._

"No honey, you stay at sober grad, okay?" Chloe said.

 _"Okay, I can tell all my friends that the party is off for tomorrow and we can spend the day as a family." He offered again._

"No, bubba. You worked so hard, we can still have it. Just tomorrow night we can spend it as a family." She said. "You go back to celebrating, okay? You earned this."

 _"Okay," he said. "If you change your mind about anything, let me know."_

Chloe smiled and made eye contact with her wife who smiled back at her, "I won't, but thanks bubba." She said.

 _"Okay, well, we're about to get on Space Mountain, I just wanted to check in." He said. "I love you, Mom."_

"I love you too, bubba." Chloe said. "Thank you."

 _"Tell the family that I love them." He said. "I'll see you in several hours."_

"Will do. Have fun, baby." Chloe said.

The exchanged goodbyes and then Chloe snuggled closer to Dani, "What did bubba want?" Taylor mumbled half asleep.

"Just being bubba and putting this family before himself," Chloe answered.

"We still get to have cake tomorrow, right?" Dani mumbled, sounding like Beca in that moment.

Chloe chuckled and kissed her youngest child's head, "Of course, angel." She said.

"Good because Micah and Cody like good cake." She mumbled falling asleep.

Chloe looked over at her wife who was still wide awake with her hand on the redhead's hip, "You try to get more sleep, okay?" Beca said, Chloe nodded and closed her eyes falling asleep.

Beca looked at her three girls sleeping peacefully and was thinking about her son who was enjoying his first night as a high school graduate. Getting her three girls to this place had not so good circumstances to it, but she's happy that they were all close.

* * *

Twelve hours later, Beca found herself holding Chloe from behind as they watched Micah and Cody with some of their friends around the backyard. They were playing a game of soccer and managed to get Dani to join them. Parker and Taylor were sitting at a bench near where they were playing, talking quietly about something. Aubrey and Emily were sitting at the patio talking.

"I know this is a stupid question," Beca said, "but how are you doing?"

The brunette placed a small kiss on the side of her neck, "Okay, I guess. I think the shock is wearing off." She answered. "Thank you for not allowing me to push you away."

"I love you." Beca said. "I've loved you since the moment you thought it would be appropriate to burst into my shower stall and make me sing with you."

"Me too." Chloe said. "I love you."

"You know, when we first started dating, I never thought you'd put up with me. I mean, I always imagined a life with you, but I thought it was a little absurd because all I kept thinking about was dancing with you when our kids were asleep, worrying about life and our kids together, and for awhile, I never thought I could ever do what I imagined. I was wrong." Chloe turned in her wife's embrace and wrapped her arms around her neck. "You always made me want to become a better person, you still do. Me not allowing you to push me away is because I know that you'd do the same thing. You don't let me push you away when I think about my parents disowning me for loving you and our family. You don't let me push you away when I've had a bad day and all I want to do is hide in my home studio and avoid the world. I'm a better person because of you, Chloe."

"I'm a better person because of you too," Chloe said softly before burying her face in Beca's neck.

Beca knew her wife burying herself into her was the redhead's way of escaping the world temporarily.

* * *

Chloe spent the better part of the next month following burying herself into Beca when they were alone. And she didn't need to ask Beca, all she needed to do was just looked at her and the music producer spread her arms open and Chloe would burying herself into her. On the plane ride to Ohio, she spent the entirety of the flight in Beca's arms. During the funeral, she spent it tucked between Beca and Micah. Those were the two people who kept her safe from everything.

Chloe knew that it would become more tolerable as time went on, but being tucked between the two people who always made her feel the safest was the only thing she could do at that moment.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** I know, sad stuff. Over the last year and a half, I've been to more funerals than weddings for any person my age. This year especially. So this was kind of my closure for that. Sorry.

Anyway, two updates in a span of a week means that I'm avoiding responsibilities for awhile. The stress has escalated over the course of the last few days. And it's not fun.

Next chapter is the last for this story. The new story will be up by the end of the year - no specific date though. I'm halfway through the last chapter of this one and then I'll worry about it. _Reminder: There will be a seven year time jump._

The sequel should fill in some of the blanks between this chapter and the next.

Okay, I guess it's time to get back to studying now...


	23. The End Of The Beginning

**A/n:** Last chapter! Sequel to follow. ;)

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty-Three: The End Of The Beginning**

 _Seven years later..._

After many years of putting it off, Taylor and Parker were finally tying the knot. Taylor was in the middle of her residency at a hospital in Boston and Parker was the sports editor for the Boston Globe. They had made their permanent residence in Boston. They settled down in a house just a year before and finally figured it was time to get married.

Micah and Cody were still together, engaged taking it not as slow as Parker and Taylor, but still slow as Cody was still in active duty with the United States Army. Micah has received an undergraduate degree from UCLA in music and is still working strong with Legacy Records, learning everything he can from both Beca and Emily.

Dani was working hard on her master's degree in computer software engineering at the University of Southern California while working on a start up company with a few friends/colleagues from her undergrad program.

Aubrey was working hard as a family lawyer, making sure justice was right where it belongs and still being somewhat of a mother to Cody and even has joked threatened Micah over the years of the repercussions of what would happen if he happened to hurt her son.

Emily had her good days and bad, she didn't dwell on the Benji situation anymore. She threw herself into her career and didn't focus on how lonely the house is being the only one in it.

Beca and Chloe were still madly in love with each other and what they do for a living. Beca and Emily had made the expansion to New York, Atlanta, and Chicago over the years. And Chloe was still doing her vice principal thing at South Los Angeles High School. Both of the mothers suffering a little from empty nest syndrome, but Micah and Dani always made sure to come back every Friday night for dinner.

* * *

Micah retied his tie for the umteenth time in the last five minutes.

"Baby, it's not like you're the one getting married." Cody called from the other room where he was getting ready.

"Soon I will be," Micah playfully shot back.

"Yeah, so my mom wants to know when we're setting a date." Cody said coming out in his class a uniform. "And she said that she doesn't want us to wait almost eight years like Taylor and Parker did."

Micah was tying his dress shoes, "Well, she does know you just got back from a deployment, right?" He said.

"Yeah, but she wants us to get on it, fast." He said messing with his cufflinks.

Micah helped his fiancé with his cufflinks, "No, she just wants us to have an excuse to give her grandkids." He said.

"How do you know that?" Cody asked.

"Because my moms are the same way." Micah said. "They were harassing Taylor last night about when she and Parker were going to have kids."

"Even Beca?" He asked.

"Especially her." Micah said straightening Cody's uniform tie. "You look good, love."

Cody leaned in to kiss him, "You do too." He said. "How'd you end up being Parker's best man?"

"Dani's Taylor's maid of honor." He said. "And their two childhood best friends are the groomsman and bridesmaid. They kept their wedding party small."

"Are your moms walking her down the aisle?" Cody asked as they walked out of Micah and Dani's shared apartment.

"Just our mama." Micah said making Cody raise an eyebrow, "Something about something or another, I wasn't paying attention last night."

"Do you ever pay attention during family dinners?" He asked.

"Nope." Micah responded letting the 'p' pop. "How was dinner with your mom, Emily, and Parker last night?"

"It was good, we went to Reagan's." He said.

"Really?" Micah said as the elevator took them down. "You haven't been there since you quit the day before your adoption."

"Chris found out I was in town and wanted to see me." He said with a shrug. "Sorry for not telling you."

"No, no, love, it's fine. I was just surprised." Micah said as they got into Micah's newly purchased GMC Terrain.

"I only quit because my mom wanted me to spend the rest of my senior year as a kid before I headed off to West Point." Cody said.

"I get it, love. Really, I do." Micah said leaning over the middle console to kiss the man.

* * *

Beca poked her head into Taylor's dressing room, "Hi baby girl." She said softly.

"Hi Mama." She said. "Is the photographer ready for us?"

"Yeah, but take your time." She said seeing Chloe and Aubrey help finish getting her ready. She sat down next to Dani who was texting someone on her phone. "How's the business going princess?"

Dani placed her head on Beca's shoulder, "Meh. It's a lot of hard work, but if we do it right, it'll be worth it."

Beca kissed her youngest daughter's head, "I believe in you baby." She whispered.

"Thanks Mama." Dani said.

"Yo, are we ready to go?" Micah said walk into the dressing room with Cody. "Jack is waiting."

Aubrey looked at the younger couple and smiled, "Tell him to be patient." The lawyer said.

"I can tell him that, but do you really want me to tell all of our family and friends that too?" Micah shot back. "We're on a schedule."

Dani got up and said, "Where'd you go after dinner last night?"

"Back to Legacy Records," Micah answered looking at his sister with an eyebrow cocked. "Why?"

She looked into his eyes and said, "Yup, he's being impatient because he's hungover."

All three mothers in the room shot their eyes to him, "Snitch." He said to Dani. "I slept at the studio on my office couch last night, calm down."

Chloe came up to him and said, "Why were you drinking scotch in the studio last night?"

"How do you know it was scotch?" He asked making her raise and eyebrow. He sighed, "Because we signed the most incompetent teenager known to man." The younger music producer said. "He thinks he knows everything. It would make you want to drink too."

"What did Tommy Levit do now?" Beca asked.

"He's just entitled." Micah said.

Aubrey took this opportunity to pull her son into a hug, "When do you have to go back?" She whispered as the Mitchell-Beale's had their family moment.

"Tomorrow." He said making Aubrey pout. "I'll be back though."

"I always hate it when you leave." Aubrey said. "This one," she gestured to Micah who was being embraced by Chloe, "is always a pain in the ass too. I feel bad for monkey."

"I'm sorry." He said. "You have Em though."

"It's not the same." Aubrey said.

"Hate to break up a Posen family moment," Micah said. "But, Jack really is getting impatient."

"Okay," the two said.

* * *

Somehow between deployments and military duties, Taylor convinced Cody to obtain legal rights to marry people in the state of California.

Beca walked Taylor down the aisle and Cody began the ceremony, "Before I begin, on behalf of the Mitchell-Beale and Junk families, I'd like to thank you for spending your Saturday with us in celebration of two becoming one." He cleared his throat before beginning again, "Love has brought together Taylor Mitchell-Beale and Parker Junk. But, what do we mean by love? When we love, we see things that others do not. I among many other people sitting in this room can attest to the love of this bride," he gestured to Taylor, "and this groom." He said gesturing to Parker.

"Their love story is not what you would consider traditional, they grew up together as cousin-like figures in each other's lives. Around the middle of both their 7th grade year at Eastwind Preparatory Academy they realized that something deeper was there. The beginning of their 8th grade year they started dating and because of the situation of their three mothers being like sisters and them like cousins, they kept it quiet for six months before realizing that maybe if they truly love each other, they should share it with their families.

He took a deep breath, "All three mothers in the situation welcomed it with open arms, still being the aunt to their child's significant other. They dated all through high school before Parker realized that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Taylor. A few weeks before they took off from California to pave a path for their new lives at Harvard and Brown, to be a doctor and a journalist, Parker got down on one knee on the sand at Newport Beach in California and asked Taylor to be his wife. She said yes and after a long engagement of fear of what might come," he softly smiled at Parker who was afraid that he would become like his father, "here we find ourselves in the fall in beautiful Boston uniting these two people to become one unit. One team."

The ceremony went on, readings from both Micah and Dani were done and if you were to ask Taylor it was kind of all a blur until the wedding vows.

"The bride and groom have prepared their own wedding vows, so if you two could face each other, and Taylor, why don't you start." Cody said.

"I've never been more nervous in my life," she began, "I always knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I never understood what I felt when I thought of you, but here I am. I promise to love you, cherish our time together, and never give up on you. I promise to, someday, be the mother of your children, and I promise to always remind you of how amazing you are. I love you."

"Parker," Cody said.

"I never was too sure about getting to this moment, but you always were. I never thought I could commit my life to you fully because of things that have happened in my life, but you never stopped reminding me of how much you love me and in return how much I love you. I promise to love you, cherish you, hold your love for me close to my heart. I promise to wake up every single day to love you and eventually our family. I love you."

The couple smiled, both with tears in their eyes. It was the happiest day of their lives and nothing could stop them from the love daze they both were in.

Cody cleared his throat, "Now, it's time to exchange the rings," he said. Parker turned to Micah who had them in his pocket and then the groom handed his bride the ring that she was going to place on his finger, "Taylor, if you can place the ring on Parker's finger and repeat after me, I, Taylor, give to you Parker," he started.

"I, Taylor, give to you Parker," she said slipping the ring on his finger.

"...this ring as a symbol of my commitment..." he continued.

"...this ring as a symbol of my commitment..." she continued.

"...to love, honor, and respect you." He said.

"...to love, honor, and respect you." She finished.

"And now, Parker, if you can place the ring on Parker's finger and repeat after me, I, Parker, give to you Taylor," he started.

"I, Parker, give to you Taylor," he said.

"...this ring as a symbol of my commitment..." he continued.

"...this ring as a symbol of my commitment..." the groom continued.

"...to love, honor, and respect you." He said.

"...to love, honor, and respect you." The groom finished.

Cody took a moment and smiled and then said, "I think that should do it." Both the bride and groom looked over at him. "May your love be a lifelong source of excitement, contentment, affection, respect, and devotion for one another. As it has for the last 13 years. Now by the power vested in me by the great state of California, it is my honor and delight to declare you husband and wife. Parker, you may now kiss your bride."

Parker smiled at his bride and then leaned in to kiss her, he grabbed her face, and when he pulled back he said, "I love you, Tay."

"I love you too, Park." She said back.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, family and friends, I now present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Parker Junk." Cody proclaimed.

* * *

"Our baby girl is married," Chloe said as she and Beca were slow dancing at the reception.

"And our baby boy is getting married next year." Beca said. "Is this what it's like to have grown up kids?"

Chloe was looking over at Parker and Taylor who were dancing together, "I guess so." The redhead said.

Beca kissed her wife's forehead as they continued to slow dance for awhile lost in the love they had for each other, it was peaceful until-

"Hi, can I get everyone's attention please," Micah said after clearing his throat. "Hi again. My name is Micah Mitchell-Beale and I'm the best man."

"And I'm Dani Mitchell-Beale, the maid of honor." The younger woman said.

"We're the brother and sister of the bride." Micah said. "And this one here," he gestured to Dani, "is a little socially awkward, but whatever. We're doing our speech together."

"I can tell you a numerous amount of embarrassing Taylor stories." Dani said, "But, I promised her that I wouldn't."

"I've only been in the Mitchell-Beale family now for about nine years, so I don't have much dirt on Taylor like Dani does, so we thought we'd share their relationship from our perspectives." Micah said.

"The night Parker asked Taylor to be his girlfriend, she told me." Dani said. "She also told me that they weren't going to tell our moms and our Aunt Emily until they figured out what the hell was really going on between the two of them."

"I came in about three years later and when I first met Taylor it was because I was moving into be her foster brother and when I first met Parker I honestly thought he was a complete asshole." Micah said.

Everyone chuckled because the man met the groom when he and Taylor were in the middle of an argument about something petty.

"When the two told all three parents that they were dating, it actually didn't surprise anyone." Dani said.

"Once I got to know Parker, I realized that he's actually a pretty decent guy and that he loves Taylor with every part of his being." Micah said. "He also has become one of my best friends."

"My room in the house is right next to Taylor's," Dani said. "So I heard most of the late night conversations, especially the ones that shouldn't have taken place." She looked at Taylor who was standing between their mothers, who were giving her a look of _really_ and Parker who had his arm around her, both blushing.

"Luckily there is a bathroom between my and Taylor's room at the house." Micah said. "But, over the years, you could see the love in their eyes, even if they didn't know what it was."

"Even if they wanted to deny it for reasons of situations that were out of their control," Dani said.

"So, to Taylor and Parker," Micah said.

"They may be an entire country between us," Dani said.

"But, we still know where you live, so we aren't afraid of coming and kicking your ass, Parker, if you hurt our sister in anyway." He said.

"May your lives be full of love," she started.

"Happiness," he added.

"And of all good things," Dani said.

"We love you both." Micah said.

"To Taylor and Parker," Dani said raising her champagne glass.

"To Taylor and Parker." Everyone around them said before down a flute of champagne.

Beca looked over at Chloe with a look of, "Yeah, we raised so pretty awesome kids."

* * *

A few weeks later, Beca was sitting in her office at Legacy Records when Chloe came in with lunch.

"Surprise," the redhead said knowing the brunette wasn't expecting her.

Beca's face lit up as Chloe shut the door behind her, "The best kind." The music producer said. "And to what do I owe this surprise for?"

Chloe shrugged, "I just - I just missed you." She said softly.

Beca scooted back in her chair so that the redhead could sit her lap. She knew what was plaguing her wife's mind. It had been exactly seven years since her dad died and every year Beca held her a little tighter.

A knock on the door interrupted their peaceful bubble, "Come in," Beca called tightening her grip around Chloe to tell her to stay in her lap.

A frantic Micah came into the room, "I can't do it, Mama. I can't." He said not seeing his mom in the room.

"Tommy Levit?" Beca asked kissing Chloe's shoulder.

"Yes," he muttered. "I can't." Micah had come a long way with his anxiety, but times like these is where he needed one of them to calm him down. Chloe got off of Beca's lap and went to wrap him in her arms. "Mom?" He asked turning around. He then saw their lunch on his mama's desk. "Shit. I'm sorry, I'll go."

"Baby, it's fine," Chloe said as he tried to get out of her embrace, "what's going through your head?"

"Nothing to worry about," he mumbled knowing it was seven years since her father died and didn't want to add to whatever she was feeling.

"Honey," she whispered. "Talk to me."

"What did he do?" Beca asked come from behind him, sandwiching the man between his two moms.

"He thinks this job was just handed to me that I did _nothing_ to earn it. That you and Aunt Emily felt like you had to give it to me." He said. "So he treats me like shit."

"We did hand it to you, but you sure as hell earned it." Beca said. "Brandon Leaf thanked you specifically in his Grammy award speech."

"I hate this," he said. "My head actually hurts."

"When's the last time you've eaten?" Chloe asked.

"I had a sandwich about an hour ago." He answered.

"Drank water?" The redhead asked.

"Right before I came in here." He answered.

 _"Micah," Emily called from the the middle of the offices._

He buried his face into Chloe's neck, "I'm not here right now." He mumbled.

"You're the youngest Grammy award winning producer, bubba." Beca reminded him. "You got this."

"Micah," Emily said coming into Beca's office knowing that if he wasn't in his own office he would be in his mama's.

"Micah's not here right now," he said face still buried into Chloe's neck, "leave a message after the beep." Beat. "Beeeep."

Chloe rubbed his back as Beca moved back to her desk, "Baby, go back out there." The redhead whispered.

"I don't wanna," he whined. "I'm a very patient person, but this guy is going to be the end of me."

"Come on," Emily said. "Let your moms have a lunch alone. I'll sit in the booth with you."

"Mehhhh," he groaned.

Emily pulled him out of the room and Chloe went back to Beca's lap, "I love you, Bec." The redhead said.

"I love you too," Beca said, wrapping her arms around her wife's waist. "How are you doing?"

"I miss him, but I'll be okay." Chloe said.

"What if I take you on a date tonight?" Beca asked.

"You don't have to." Chloe said.

"But, I _want_ to." Beca said.

"Okay," Chloe said snuggling more into her. "I'd love that. Thank you."

Beca smiled. She had the best family in the world. She had a wife that loved her, three - no _four_ \- beautiful children who were happy and healthy. Bailee still serving strong in the United States Army who even called Beca and Chloe _moms_ every holiday that she could make it home and made sure to call the two of them together once a week and keeps up through texts throughout the week. Speaking of which, Beca's phone was buzzing on the desk in front of her and Chloe's in her purse that sat on the table in front of the couch.

 _[Bailee, June 13th, 2:23pm]: You to get to know before Micah or anyone else really._

 _[Bailee, June 13th, 2:24pm]: [Picture Attachment]_

 _[Bailee, June 13th, 2:24pm]: Sam asked me to marry him._

Beca smiled when she saw the picture of the ring sent to both of them, "Our oldest daughter is getting married." She showed Chloe the picture.

Chloe's smile was the brightest Beca had seen it all day, "Yay!" She said.

Bailee had been dating Cory, another fellow Army officer after meeting through Cody a few years prior and they had been dating pretty steadily for the last year and a half, the guy even asked both Beca, Chloe, and Micah for permission when the two were out for Christmas. And when the three of them asked him why he was asking, the man simply said, _"It's protocol. And you two are her moms practically, right? And you are her brother? It's a respect thing."_

"Now, I'm hungry. Can we eat?"

"Of course, love." Chloe said handing her wife the burger she wanted. "I love you."

"I love you too." Beca said holding her wife a little closer.

Beca Mitchell-Beale considered herself blessed. One of her children was married and starting her residency. Two of her children were engaged to be married and both had careers that were keeping them more than in a barely comfortable place financially. And one was solely focused on her career and nothing else. As she held her wife a little closer, exactly seven years since she lost her dad, she knew that while they had trials in her life, personally and with her family, everything would be okay.

* * *

 **The End.**

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** So, there it is! I'll get working on the sequel after finals are over, probably means a week from today.

As of right now, I'm envisioning this to be a trilogy - meaning a sequel to follow the sequel. We'll see though. I'm still trying to map out the sequel to this one in my head.

Thank you for the support through the first story! Can't wait to share the next one with you!

Until the sequel,

determined-or-something


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